We are still docked at Put-In-Bay, but will be getting under way eventually. This morning everyone got to go inside Perry’s Monument. They went all the way to the tippy top and got the bird’s eye view of Put-In-Bay. Again, it couldn’t have been a better day, or a better group. All throughout the trip they have been doing some dance (completely foreign to an aging adult such as myself) and managed to convince the Captain to do it with them at the top of Perry’s monument. Talk about a hoot and a half! But while at the top, Captain also gave a talk on the history of the Battle of Lake Erie, which happened right around Put-In-Bay. He was listened to not only by the crew, but the public and the park rangers that happened to be there too.
Another version of the now-classic view from Perry’s Monument. (Photo credit: Veronica Bialas.)
But that’s just one of the many examples of the dedication that the crew have to each other and to the trainees, and a testament to how much they truly like each other. It’s not easy being on a trip like this: to leave the world you know and enter a community so foreign to modern life. But then again, those who have courage do the hard things in life, because it is the hard things that are worth doing, and they are richly rewarded with unforgettable glimpses into the world of the past, and the depth of what living a full, unabashed life is like. It is doing the hard things that will make you grow.
All around, Put-in-Bay was a resounding success, filled with lots of places to go and things to see. But something interesting is beginning to happen to the trainees. They are beginning to think like seamen. One described the people at Put-in-Bay, “Like meeting the others from the TV show Lost.” Landsmen seemed different all of a sudden, as if being at sea for just one week was instilling something in the trainees that has been forgotten by most of society.
-Veronica