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My Other Self

by Sandra Bennett
Encouragement· Farm· Home· TCF

9 Sep
 ~ home, where my dreams lead ~

Recently, I asked someone if I’d heard God wrong. I thought He said, “Make the blog a business; tell what you know because every time an old person dies, a library is lost.” I just spent 2 hours writing an article on moving from city to country, hit publish and POOF! it’s gone. I haven’t a clue what I did or where it went but I’m bawling like a calf right now. In searching for it among drafts, I found this post that was never published. So, as nothing is a surprise to God, here’s a post that’s a handful of years old; hope you enjoy.

 

Some time ago, a blogger hosted “My Other Self”; I’ve had this post since then and, recently, while going through my blog, realized I’d never posted. So…here it is…

My other self met Dave when I purchased the cottage next door to him and, shortly after, we moved, for a while, to Maui, Hawaii where we drove the Hana Road to O’he’o Gulch, but also called the Seven Sacred Pools, and  I (because Dave was the smart one) dived jumped twenty feet into one of the pools. We hung loose and allowed the Almighty to heal us begin healing us.

 ~ Hawaii Web photo ~

My other self, some time later, along with Dave and a friend someone we knew, rented a 36 foot yacht and sailed the British Virgin Islands. It was a first for Dave and I, the other feller said he knew how to sail. He might have too, but he 

~ sunset at sea ~

was always so drunk, it was difficult to tell. First night out, Dave was attacked by sand fleas that were in his cabin and, until we could find a doctor, he remained in a reclining position, as his ankles were too swollen to walk without pain. He hobbled where he needed to go but, on a 36 foot yacht, there aren’t too many places to go. I ended up steering sailing the yacht as our “captain” was too hungover, drunk and sea sick to do much of anything other than hang off the back while he fed the fish. Yes, that does mean he was dreadfully sick but not as sick as I wished on him. There have only been two times in my life that I seriously contemplated killing someone; that was one and I can’t remember the other.

We spent a long week, a very long week, sailing around the British Virgin Island in a rented yacht. The very first day out the “Captain” led us into waters he’d signed a rental agreement stating he wouldn’t go. I don’t know if it was the booze talking or he was just an idiot. There were a few shouting matches and at every port of call I’d find a pay phone, call my parents and say, “Keep praying!” Poor them. They were frantic with worry; it was an experience I don’t care to repeat but it was amazing.

I remember docking in the last port, went to the shower room that evening and a bunch of women accosted me. As they circled around me while I was brushing my teeth, I glanced in the mirror. One woman leaned in, “You don’t have to put up with this. You have choices.” HUH? I thought they were lesbians and that was the strangest pick-up line I’d ever heard. I shrugged and kept brushing but they wouldn’t let up. It finally dawned on me they were “rescuing” me from being battered by a man. I’m fair and bruise easily and was covered in bruises from being bounced around in rough seas. I have photos of me with bruises the size of my palm on my thigh and arms because there are NO soft edges on a boat., it’s all hard metal and plastic edges. I tried to convince them I wasn’t being battered by a man, but by a boat, but they were too convinced of their rightness and my, apparent, stupidity at “staying in that kind of relationship” they wouldn’t listen.

When I walked back to the boat Dave was sitting, watching the world go by. He asked if everything was all right and I told him what happened. He said, “Oh, that explains it. A group of women walked by here and everyone one of them gave me the evil eye.” We both laughed because what else was there to do?

My other self formed a friendship with Dave, then love and, eventually, marriage. We were in no hurry. Dave was recovering from Cathy’s (his first wife) horrendous death from cancer, and I was recovering from kissing a lot of frogs. We met in 1989, about a year after Cathy died, and we asked his mother to keep her ear to the ground should anything become available near’ish her. She did and we bought Thistle Cove Farm in May 1995 and were married on the front lawn in July 1995.

We didn’t do all “those things” one is supposed (??) to do when moving. We didn’t research or have lists or check out the county. We dove in with both feet and made it happen which is, pretty much, the way we lived our lives.

P. S. This finishes the draft from so long ago. The article I wrote was how to decide to move from urban to country and, frankly, was rather darn fine. However, it’s gone now, will have to be re-written. So be it. Like I said, it’s not a surprise to God but sometimes, just sometimes, I wish He’d let me in on the joke.

Wishing you the cozy comfort of home and homestead ~

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Comments

  1. handmade by amalia says

    September 30, 2020 at 4:44 am

    That has happened to me once, I’ve been pressing SAVE like mad ever since.
    Amalia
    xo

    Reply
  2. Sheryl Kirk says

    September 26, 2020 at 5:16 pm

    I enjoyed this because you sound younger in it.

    Reply
    • Sandra Bennett says

      September 29, 2020 at 7:54 am

      grin…about 25 years younger!

      Reply
  3. GretchenJoanna says

    September 19, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    Oh, Sandra! I know the feeling… and yes, the prayer, Why, O why, Lord, did you let me lose all that, hours worth of work?
    At least, you cheered me up again with the “lost” story you posted. <3

    Reply
    • Sandra Bennett says

      September 29, 2020 at 7:56 am

      Gretchen, I must admit I thought about crying…for a second. Then shrugged and go on with it.

      Reply
  4. ellen b says

    September 15, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    “Recovering from kissing a lot of frogs” that is such a good description of the culture of dating. I’m also impressed that the group of women were bold enough to try and rescue you! 🙂

    Reply
    • Sandra Bennett says

      September 29, 2020 at 8:18 am

      Ellen, it was a strange thing…standing in the bath house when those women approached me. I never convinced them I wasn’t in an abusive relationship.

      Reply
  5. Lisa Richards says

    September 11, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    I hate when that happens! (Things disappearing into thin air.) I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. A young person can generally find it, lol. But I did enjoy the “found” post. God bless ya, sister! 🙂

    Reply
    • Sandra Bennett says

      September 29, 2020 at 8:10 am

      Lisa, have I responded? I’ve been with WP for a year, perhaps longer, and it still confuses me.

      Reply
  6. ~k says

    September 10, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    Just intuition, something in this you are suppose to pick up on/glean to use for the “right now” (in your current time),
    I dunno maybe make a vertical list of so many columns of what is here…
    then see what theme appears?
    Or just sentences of what comes up in the blog?
    Just sayin’

    Reply
    • Sandra Bennett says

      September 29, 2020 at 8:17 am

      hmmmm. interesting. I don’t know, nothing comes to mind. It was the first vacation/holiday Dave and I ever took, back in 1996 (I think) but we did live in Hawaii for a time. Funny…I can’t remember now if the BVI or the HI came first.

      Reply
  7. Dewena says

    September 10, 2020 at 11:42 am

    Sandra, what a story you gave us here! A jewel that I’m thankful you turned to when all your hard work on the other post was lost. This was painted so beautifully that I saw it in technicolor, the captain–I think you only survived him by the sheer grace of God–the sand fleas, what agony that must have been for him, the bathroom intervention and open seas in the hands of amateurs and one of them three sheets to the wind.

    Your poor parents! And I admit to loving more glimpses into your life with Dave.

    I’ve never lost a post and usually I write a rough draft anyway but somehow in our move from Florida I lost a whole chapter of a book I was writing, one that I never was happy with rewritten. It is so frustrating!

    Reply
  8. teresa says

    September 10, 2020 at 10:42 am

    Hi Sandra,
    …that is a neat post…like reading a letter you found tucked in a drawer from long ago…
    ~Have a lovely day!
    ps…I hope you find your other post…

    Reply
  9. magsmcc says

    September 9, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    I think this was the article God wanted us all to read. The next one will be even better than darn fine!

    Reply

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