Re: Addicted to boats.
I'll call a meeting of 'boataholics anon' into order,
heres my boatalog.
My name is Gerard and I'm a boataholic.
I started out innocently enough. I began to think about boats at parties now and then , just to loosen up , ya know.
Inevitably, though, one boat led to another and soon I was more than just a social boater.
I began to boat alone?"to relax," I told myself?but I knew it wasn?t true. I was thinking of boats all the time. I began to think about boats on the job. I knew that boating and employment don?t mix, but I couldn?t stop myself. I only really boated alone or unless there was no-one else around ...and only 6 months either side of Christmas, whats the big deal?
I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read 'on the water' and 'powerboating'. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"
Things weren?t going so great at home, either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the outboard. She spent that night at her mother?s.
I soon had a reputation as a heavy boater. One day the boss called me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your boating has become a real problem. If you don?t stop thinking about boats on the job, you?ll have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about boats.
I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I?ve been thinking?" "I know you?ve been thinking about another boat," she said, "and I want a divorce!"
"That?s a load of flotsam," I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I?d had enough. "I?m going to the marina!" I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the marina. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors?.but they didn?t open. The marina was closed.
To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, simpering for a water pump, a poster caught my eye: ?Friend, is heavy boating ruining your life?? it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Boaters Anonymous poster. It is responsible for what I am today?a recovering boater. I never miss a BA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-boatiing video; last week it was "Airplane."
Then we share experiences about how we avoided boating since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed?easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped uncontrolled boating.
