I recently had my 21 year old step brother onboard. He broke the guest record for length of stay – 10 days. I’m still amazed no one was stabbed to death in their sleep…however, I do think he tried to poison me with acetone…but I can’t prove this.

Henry has a heart of gold, I love him like a blood brother, but Its been forever since I’ve spent this much time with someone that young – I’d say about 20 years.

I’d forgotten that 21 year-olds know EVERYTHING and are guided by a unjaded optimism about their future role in the world and how they will affect positive change. I seem to remember I was the same, however like the attempted poisoning I can’t prove this.

I moved to China when I was 23 and had to transformed myself from a sheltered upper middle class Canadian kid into a bulldog with sharp teeth and a Sherman tank. It was the only way to survive China and its served me well. I’m not jaded, I’m just stronger.

We don’t live in the world that we want, we live in the world we have. As each new generation leaves university or enters the work place they slowly learn where the limits are; the lucky ones learn how to push them and a very small number of people breach them.

I wanted this posting to be funny, I wanted to list out the numerous infractions Henry committed on Esodo and his rebellious attitude to my paramount authority as captain and older brother, but I won’t attack his beautiful soul because of a small litany of behaviors that threaten my OCD.

“Dammit Henry, do the dishes as soon as we are finished eating: wash ur hands immediately after applying sun screen: just cuz we are eating eggs, beans and bacon doesn’t mean there NEEDS to be toast, do you know what a fucking pain in the ass it is to make toast on a boat?: This is my boat, my rules: I’m not ur brother on this boat, I’m the fucking CAPTAIN!”

I look forward to observing Henry as he ventures out in the vast ocean of adulthood with all its treasures and pitfalls and I hope that he will be one of the lucky ones who “breaches” and helps create the world we aspire to have.

Depite Henry’s threat to pull out my feeding tubes when I’m old and feeble I’m still going to give him a low guest rating of 7, cuz it’s so much fun, and he lost my sun-proof shirt and broke my snorkeling mask 🙂

Captain Awesome, Marina Di Olbia, Sardinia. Aug, 2015.