Catch the Wind: My Journey with Caroline

I brush off my shorts and shirt and stand up, certain now that I need to stay right here. Caroline’s face lingers in my mind, still turned toward the water the way I last saw it.

Once the War of 1812 broke out, plenty of men must have joined the navy, fighting so girls like Caroline wouldn’t have their fathers captured. Part of me doubts it really changed all that much, since terrible things still happen everywhere. But then again, without people willing to fight for what’s right, people like Mom, things could be so much worse.

I follow the familiar path through the woods home, picturing my own house waiting at the end of it. A thick lump forms in my throat, the kind that shows up during the saddest scene of a movie. I’m actually going home. It didn’t take long at all, and yet somehow it feels like an enormous distance.

In a way, it was: 200 years there, 200 years back. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy all over again.

Compared to that, eight months of Mom being away on her ship doesn’t sound nearly so impossible anymore. She’ll be right here in my own time the whole while, just a phone call or a Skype video away. I bet when she comes home, she’ll feel exactly the way I do now, glad to be back, but somehow changed by having gone.

I want her to take plenty of pictures while she’s away, and I’ll send some of my own by email so we stay close. Maybe once she’s home, the two of us can start planning our next camping trip. Just thinking about it makes me smile.