442 fraternizing with the enemy

Ok, so, we're scheduled to go out on an all-day pontoon boat excursion. 

We're not sure we're up for it. We've just arrived, it leaves at 6am west coast time. We're just getting over food poisoning. And it will, with the exception of our step-mother-in-law, be a boat full of strangers. It's going to be brutally sunny all day, and we can't return until everyone is ready to.

And, there's a good chance they're going to be T*$@pers. All day long. With nowhere to go. But, you know, we're in Florida and step-mother-in-law is excited, so we go.

So you put away your concerns, lather on some sunscreen, and go.

You discover that you're moving into a new demographic. All the retired people on the boat really aren't that much older than you. And they're pretty fun. The music is cranked, lots of 80s hair metal, drinks are consumed, lots of white claw, and there's plenty of laughter.

The scene is outrageous and fossil-fuel powered. Something that might take me all day, or longer, to sail is accomplished in an hour. There are fishing lines everywhere, and it stinks a bit like gasoline.

But what are you going to do? So you soak in some local real estate knowledge (the action is on cash buyers of million dollar plus properties) and you get a sunburn.

And you avoid politics at all costs, and you have fun.

And you're thankful for this one life, and for everyone's generosity, and for aloe vera.

And you wonder, how do we grow these divides? When we have much more in common than not?

Thanks for getting us out there in the open, motorboatin', Grace!

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