A Captain’s Love
Can I tell you a love story? It’s not a typical love story. It’s a story about one stranger forever shifting the love of another with the simplest of words.
It’s a true story but we’ll start with Once Upon Time just for fun…
Once Upon a Time, there was a girl struggling to see light and goodness in her world. Her cousins saw this. They knew she needed to be cared for, so they swept her away to an island adventure! There she met Arthur, Captain of the boat her family whisked her off to for a day of adventures! This girl is me, Brooke Noelle…
Captain Arthur was the fun loving entertainer of the day. He made sure I had plenty of laughter for the adventures my cousins had planned for the day.
Captain Arthur and his First Mate made sure I had everything I needed for each adventure. “Miss Brooke, do you need your snorkel mask adjusted?” or “Would you enjoy a floatie as you snorkel?” Or “Would you care for any cheese and crackers with your sparkling water.” First of all, I didn’t know sparkling water was an option for me!
The First Mate’s hospitality was exceptional. Somehow, Captain Arthur could steal all of my fear. He had me swimming in the water with stingrays. Feeding them squid as their smooth silky underbellies slid over my outstretched arm and sucked the delicacy right up.
When we stopped at Starfish Point, we waded in warm shallow waters of the famous oversized coral pink starfish. Arthur swooped down in the water and lifted a starfish out. His Honduran accent called to me, “Now, Brooke, come here…come here…” I hesitantly waded closer to him as he took my hand. Flipping my palm up he started to lay the starfish on my left forearm.
“Ugh…is it ok to do this?” I asked hesitantly. “I mean is it safe for the starfish…and me…?”
His bright crooked smile reached wide, lifting my worries away. “My Brooke, yes, it’s safe. Starfish, also called sea stars, can be out of the water for a small amount of time. They need the water to survive. You see these tube looking feet on their underside?”
“Yeah…” we stand waist deep in the waves facing each other.
“Well, these are their feet. They work on a hydraulic system that suctions itself to help it move.” Arthur, holding the sea star gingerly, steadies my arm part way in the water. He slowly sets the tubes of the starfish on my hot salty skin.
I watch him wait respectfully for the starfish to settle into place. Slowly, like a miracle, it begins to relax. It’s five arms begin molding to my arm. The tubes suctioning to me. The starfish now feels like it’s part of me.
Arthur lets go of my hand and watches my face turn giddy. My five year old self lets loose with quiet gasps and a gaping mouth.
I whisper, “Oh my gosh! Look at it!”
“It just takes a little time for it to get comfortable. For it to trust.” Arthur, still smiling, watches me.
I glance up and blush as I realize he’s watching me turn into the little girl living deep inside my soul. He reaches back across the crystal clear gentle waves and helps me remove the sea star. Releasing it back into the water, we both stand smiling at each other. The sun hits the sea surrounding us.
Yes, this moment sparkles right now. Literally, every level of this moment shimmers with light. Pure sparkle.
The wake of the approaching jet ski shakes the sparkles away. Arthur asks if anyone wants to take a speed on the jet ski. I smile and shake my head, “No more speed for me today.” I just want to sit in the shallows for a few more minutes and take in the light.
We climb aboard the boat and begin to head back to where we started the day. That quiet lazy shopping center with the docks tucked behind it. As we cruise across the wide open spaces of the ocean, soul soaked with goodness, I can’t help but give way to sleep in the back of the boat. The rest of my family migrates up front to the bow.
Moments later I shake myself awake. Arthur gives me a minute to find my way back to reality on that cruising boat. “Brooke…Brooke…” I hear his Honduran accent holler over his shoulder. His hand waves me to join him at the seat behind the wheel.
I make my way next to him. The bench is folded up, a double stacked seat, so it sits higher. We both lounge on the seats, partly standing, partly sitting. One hand on the wheel. His left hand stretches out to the horizon. “See that part of the island there?” He squints and points.
My eyes follow his outstretched arm. I nod my head.
“Ok, well, take us that direction.” He scoots to the right, away from the Captain’s spot and takes my hand to grip the wheel.
My eyes grow wide in disbelief! Just when I thought I couldn’t be surprised anymore, here he is giving me one of the scariest adventures of all.
“What?” I holler over the wind.
“Yeah, you’ll be fine. I’m right here with you. Just point us in that direction and take us home.”
Shaking my head, my cousin Kristin sits in front of me on the bow of the boat with my other family members. She looks back at me to realize what’s happening and her jaw drops. She’s in disbelief at my new role as captain just as much as me!
How is this real? How is this my life? How has this day been my gift to receive?
I drive towards the island in the distance. My eye on the horizon. Arthur leans over and gives me a new spot to keep my eye on. “See that tower there on the island? Point us that direction.” I shift us smoothly and slightly to sail inland.
Leaning back he lets his words sail towards me, “You know, you can do more than you realize!”
His brown eyes glance at me and put the period on that sentence. What lands as a statement from him, lingers as a question for me. But can I really?
“What?” I ask as I grip the steering wheel of the million dollar boat that I’d never forgive myself for ruining. I’m like the starfish, tense and not trusting at first. In my head I’m already considering all the ways I’m going to screw this up.
“You can do more than you realize.” Another smile in my direction. “You, my Brooke, can do more than you realize.”
His eyes met mine with a knowing look. He knew I did not fully believe him. Yet, he stood next to me knowing he helped prove this claim all day long. I had just snorkeled a shipwreck, swam with stingrays, held a starfish, and driven a boat across the ocean. All things I had never done before. Never once did I sink. I rose to every challenge.
I slid to the left a bit as we seamlessly switched spots. Him in the driver seat again taking us all the way back to the dock. I knew in my mind, he was right. In my heart, I still doubted.
“Belief, my Brooke, will take time,” something deep spoke to me – possibly in a Honduran accent – I cannot totally remember.
Five years later, I still repeat this mantra to myself. “You can do more than you realize.”
You know what? I’m beginning to believe it. I’m beginning to see it. I’m beginning to live the love Captain Arthur spoke to me that day.
A single sentence sparkling over the sunlit waves. It has never gone away. I’m convinced the more I slowly trust and get comfortable with how I am designed, the more I will rest. An oversized starfish exhaling wherever it lands.
As this love story comes to a close, I hope for two things…
One, I hope you remember that your words matter, even to strangers. Keep speaking love and truth to the people around you. You never what will hit the sun just right and sparkle to catch their attention.
Two, I hope you keep listening closely to the truth spoken to you in love. Let it soak into your skin for years to come. That love changes you.
In turn, you will love in a way that changes people too.
