Repairing Joy

The recent repair events have absorbed much of our boating life lately. Unlike any repairs I've ever done on my car or home or motorcycle, this experience was both pleasurable and fulfilling. Each bolt slip and knuckle crash, each drop of a nut (in the damn lake never to be retrieved from the 20 foot deep bottom), each scratching of the head trying to figure out how to pull things apart resulted in a wonderful, confidence building experience. Intellectually, I know that I must become capable of repairing this boat all by my self, under extreme conditions. It could be this knowledge that makes the whole experience, of fixing a problem, more of an experience than a task.