The Forge

It's about 2:30 PM, on August 22nd, 2007. In an hour, i will be sliding my seatbelt into its clip, leaning back, and pulling out of 4 Mallow Court's driveway for the last time (at least for a few months). My destination will be Grove City, Pennsylvania, where i'll be attending the College of the same name as an English major. My goal? To become a published author. My efforts here ought to have been indication enough of that.

If you've ever been on an old boat--indeed, any boat that's been docked for a good number of years--you've probably noticed a chain leading down from the side of the vessel into the water. This chain is attached to the anchor, a component designed to weight the boat down and keep it (roughly) in the same place so wind and wave don't take it away. And, since these anchors, chains and boats are sitting in the same plot of water for so long, they begin to attract various forms of life. Algae, barnacles, seaweed and other denizens of the sea become attached to the boat and indeed become a part of it.

However, say you were to pull in the anchor, hoist the sails, and take off into the glowing horizon. Well then, you must assume that the algae would be torn into pieces. Some of the barnacles will fall off. And even if you were to return to the same port later--even ten minutes later--that debris would never again re-attach itself to your anchor.

Likewise, some of the barnacles stay on the boat. Perhaps for days, weeks, even years. Some will be there forever unless you get under the boat and scrape them off yourself. The algae has taken the shape of the anchor and refuses to be taken away by the raging currents of the ocean. Because the boat was anchored for so long in one place, thing have happened to it that will always be there as an indicator of the ship's history.

So here i am, on the threshold of a new era in my life, and it's time to hoist the anchor up out of Pawling's waters and set sail for college life and the "real life" beyond it. And so, i need to wonder: which barnacles will stay on my boat? Which seaweed has wrapped itself tightly enough about my arms and legs that it will still be there twenty, thirty years from now? Will i still be finding algae in between my toes when i'm retired? There's only one way to find out.


Anchors aweigh, boys!