land, Sybil? Anything?
SP: Bathtubs.
[Laughter.]
KCAB: What do you miss, Mom?
JP: Storage space. Kids want to keep everything. You know how kids are. Conch shells, sea stars, old bottles, anything. All the cool stuff we find ashore. But at some point, there’s nowhere left. Under your pillow?
MICHAEL PARTLOW: Currently Sybil is collecting crabs’ eyes.
SP: They look like marbles. Want to see?
JP: I also miss our house, of course. The luxury of separate places. So that two kids can be doing two separate activities at the same time. We do try to give Sybil some schoolwork, to keep her at grade level. But then Georgie wants to…
SP: Copy me.
[Laughter.]
KCAB: What about you, Michael? What are some of the challenges for you?
MP: I learned how to sail on a lake. There are no coral heads in a lake. When I sailed as a kid, I didn’t care what happened to the boat, per se.
JP: You cared what happened…
MP: Yeah, of course, I cared. I just didn’t care like this. Now, this boat I’m sailing is my home. With my family in it! I had to learn how to sail my home, if you will.
KCAB: You became more cautious?
MP: Yeah. I’m more likely to be like, to Juliet, Should we put in a reef?
KCAB: So he consults you.
JP: Well. I’m more like the wall he bounces things off of.
MP: You’re not my wall. [Laughter.] We’ve had a couple of blowouts. That’s really hard. Over time, I think we’ve learned to communicate better. We do OK. Given the stressors.
JP: We do. It’s interesting how we really rely on each other at sea. I was a total novice. You have to understand. I had no sailing experience. I’m a poet. Can you think of anything more useless at sea than a poet?
KCAB: A poet! That’s great. Are you published?
JP: Actually, I didn’t mean to call myself that. Could you not print that?
KCAB: But a lot of sailors do write about the sea.
JP: I’m neither a poet nor a sailor. Really.
MP: Juliet was getting her Ph.D. in American literature. She was writing a brilliant dissertation. And then things changed, you know. Kids came along…
JP: As I like to say, I got the Ph. but not the D.
[Laughter.]
KCAB: Well, it’s never too late.
JP: Sometimes it is. Sometimes it really is too late.
KCAB: Never say never.
JP: I’m going to say it—never.
MP: So, do you want to see the boat? Want to look around?
JP: Want to see the head?
SP: Want to see my crabs’ eyes?
[Child crying.]
MP: What’s wrong, Doodle?
KCAB: Is he OK?
JP: He’s OK. He’s got a little rash. Nothing alarming. We sort of…we’ve gotten all sorts of tropical rashes and stuff. Par for the course.
KCAB: OK. You sure? Well, I wanted to ask more about the joys and sorrows. Sorrows seem to be…not enough space. No baths. You said you argue sometimes. What do you argue about?
MP/JP: Politics.
[Laughter.]
KCAB: Out here in the middle of paradise?
JP: You asked!
MP: And we also argue about whether or not to use the GPS.
JP: He’s a purist. He thinks it’s cheating.
MP: Oh, here’s another challenge. Getting diarrhea in foreign ports.
KCAB: Yeah! I bet you have some pretty visceral stories…
MP: Worry. You worry. Anchors dragging.
SP: Bad weather.
KCAB: How do you get through bad weather, Sybil?
SP: I tell stories. To my brother. Belowdecks.
KCAB: That’s cool. You make up stories to stop worrying about the weather?
SP: And sometimes Mommy gives me peppermints from the Sin Bin.
[Laughter.]
KCAB: So some of these adversities…these inconveniences…make you closer?
MP: Yeah.
JP: Yeah. Yeah, they do.
[Silence.]
MP: Though I think we could skip feeling closer to the head. [Laughter.] Man, sometimes you just want a hot shower! A bathroom all your own. With one of those huge showerheads that like dump water down on you. That dump gallons of water on you.
JP: Ahh, yes! Like the hotel we just stayed at here in Cartagena. And I wouldn’t mind eating on a delicate piece of china.
KCAB: So if it weren’t for the lack of conveniences—bathtubs and big showerheads, and storage—would you want to stay aboard forever?
JP: Oh, that’s a no-brainer for Michael.
MP: I—I like to think so. But. I’m just a human being. Maybe I’d just get restless and want to change things up again. Maybe, despite having everything, I would just want more.
JP: Wow.
MP: What? Was that silly?
JP: No. I love you. I love that you just said that. You still surprise me, Michael Partlow. Uh, please don’t print that either.
[Laughter.]
GEORGE PARTLOW: Doodle say!
MP: What is it, Doodle?
JP: I think he wants to say something. Doodle, do you want to say something?
KCAB: Talk into the phone, George.
GP: See ’nake up!
[Laughter.]
SP: He saw a snake. That’s what he wants to tell you.
KCAB: Ah, you can understand your brother.
MP: She’s the only one who can!
GP: ’Nake fall da boat. ’Nake fall DOWN.
SP: The snake fell off a branch and almost into our dinghy.
KCAB: Wow. Were you scared?
SP: No.
GP: My!
JP: No, no, George, don’t touch that phone. It’s not ours.
MP: Sorry!
JP: George, give the phone to Mommy.
GP: My! My!
[Crying.]
MP: He’s just in a mood. We’d better…
KCAB: Yeah. Absolutely. I have plenty of useful stuff. Thank you so much for talking to me. I think folks will be interested to hear what you’re doing.
MP: Thank you for being interested.
JP: Yes, thank you, really.
KCAB: A lot of people talk about doing stuff like this…I myself have planned to hike the Appalachian Trail for years.
MP: You should.
KCAB: But I never take the plunge.
JP: Never say never!
[Laughter.]
MP: No, I’m serious. You should. You kind of have to.
GP: My! I hold!
MP: Stop it, George. That’s not yours.
JP: Sorry about Doodle. He’s probably just…
MP: He’s just tired.
KCAB: Absolutely. Let me just turn off this