Sailor Jerry!

So recently i had a great experience with my parents. They came back from a sailing venture that was rather eventful. They proceeded to tell me about their adventure while sipping (to put it lightly, half the bottle was gone by the end of dinner) on some Captain Jerry Rum. Now, I did not try any of the booze, but I did learn a valuable lesson. As they unfolded the wretched tale for me, each one jumping in to fill the missing pieces, it looked like my parents had been to hell and back on their boat. The wind had taken over around noon and they did not stop fighting the rocking, and near capsizing for 5 hours. I could almost hear my mom's wimpy cries of "Yurko!! Aaay!" My dad, being the coolest cucumber even in situations of dire distress commented that there was an hour of time which he was trying to plan out the shortest swim to shore had the boat gone under. But in the end, the clear grin on my dads face, and the one my mom tried to hide behind rolled eyes her signature grouchy smile told me that they had lived life to the max that day, and ultimately enjoyed it. As they devoured my vegan enchiladas (side note: vegan enchiladas > cheese enchiladas, though green chile is and forever will be enchilada king) My dad went on to explain that they had truly survived that day, recounting how my mom after hours of panic and whining bravely took down the jib knee deep in water without a peep. He went on to say that this experience, much like the time he took me and my horrid skiing skills down a double black diamond without any poles, was to teach a lesson- you must defeat the worst, survive the impossible, in order to have perspective on the world. Now, he points out, I enjoy my easy blue level runs, but I know that was I faced with a situation where I had to go down a double black, I have experience on how to do it. Every now and then, I do choose the double black, it makes me sweat and my heart pounds, but like my mom (From now on to be addressed as Sailor Jerry)hardened at sea after a "perfect storm" scenario, I too will chose the metaphorical high seas as a challenge just to know that when a time comes when struggle is not a choice, I will be ready.