Setting Course...

I rose early...

We had a huge challenge ahead of us...and the high-point of this challenge was that they assigned us to attack it together...

I dressed and ate...and walked to the beach...

...It had called to me while I stood on tiny terrace...

...I wanted to watch the sunrise...

...and contemplate the coming week's activities...

As the firey edge of the sun just topped the horizon...I could begin to make out the shape of a large ship...

...it was a huge Tanker...

Then I could see a "school" of small Tugs (by comparison) scurrying out to meet "the arrival..."

It was absolutely quiet...except for the rythmic waves...and they too were rather subdued...

Instead of thinking about work...my mind totally blanked and I was simply caught up in the moment...

It was a wonderful experience...the slight ocean odors...the development of the brilliant orange ball...moving to yellow and sitting momentarliy precariously on the horizon...

The routine "shipping drama" playing 5 miles out...

I was there...but I was not...it is impossible to explain...so I will go no further...

"I knew that I would find you here!" he said with almost a whisper...

"I see you are deep in the moment and I definitely do not want to startle you back...to this reality!"

"In this brief moment I realized something about you...you are a "water person"  I can see it...you are different..."

"Although we live in the midwest...I can see that your place in life is next to water...some people are forest dwellers...others love mountains...and so on..."

"...You become almost transparent as you stand here...almost like the water...it pulls you in...and embraces you...when you are standing here...you get taken in...I do not see that happen to many people..."

"I do love the ocean," I replied...

"Don't ever get too far from it my friend...if you do...you'll lose a BIG part of you...it would be like losing your best friend..."

"Look out at those ships," I said as I pointed eastward...

"There is a little drama playing out...on this magnificant stage...that most people are missing...

...I love the plot...the captain of that tanker has been up all night...getting to that place...and the tug-captains rose early in anticipation of its arrival...and now the time has come for their paths to really cross..."

"Theirs paths are intersecting...I wonder why they are going out there so far from port..."

"I was watching them from my terrace too...but I know from my experience that they are simply guiding the ship in..."

"That is a long way out...to be doing that...isn't it?"

"Not really...it takes a long time to turn a ship of that size and then get it back into control..."

"When you turn a ship like that...the turn itself is not controlled for a long time...it over-shoots...and must be pulled back...and it over-shoots in the compenstation...and that must be controlled...its path has many zigs and zags...but I know that those captains and their crews know this and by the time they get to port...the zig will be perfectly timed"

"The combination of our plans and our experience should be doing exactly the same..."

"We delude ourselves into believing that we are following a straight path"

"When...in actuality...our lives ocillate...and we get frustrated in the required compensations...and never consider that this minor course change is a part of the real path..."

"...As a result...we give-up or quit..."

"Ever wonder why those little boats are called TUGS?"

"...The perfect path is accomplished in little tugs..."

"We should all learn that lesson..."

"Do you know why four tugs are going out there?"

"Because it is a BIG ship and it needs all of the help it can get?" I responded...

"Nope!  That ship only needs two tugs...one on the port and one on the starboard..."

"The other two are there for the tugs!"

"They do not want to fail...if one tug has problems...there is a stand-in and the other one is there to pull the disabled tug back to port..."

"That is a bit of over-kill, isn't it?"

"Not when you consider the cargo...failure is not an option...and there is no chance for catching up..."

"That is interesting...I would have never thought of that!" I quietly exclaimed

"When I think of it...people are like that...they are either tugs or freighters or tankers...aren't they?"

"You are half right...during the course of our lives...we are with tugs or frieghters...very few people go through their entire life as either one or the other..."

"Sometimes we are the tugs that play the role of turning and guiding the larger ships into port...other times we are the ship that needs to be guided..."

"If the tanker captain...did not realize that...he would not turn over command and guidence to the tug captains...and they would have a major set of issues..."

"The tanker captain plays a significant role when the tug captains release him from the departing port...until he arrives at the port of call...egos can be REALLY disasterous if the roles are not followed..."

"People need to function the same...it is all about recognizing your role...and taking command when that is called for and abdicating when that is required..."

"Life is no more complex than that!"

"Are we going to be tugs this week...or freighters?" I asked...

"I was thinking the about same thing..."

"We were asked to help this company...so my first impression is that we were asked to be tugs..."

"But then as I thought deeper...we are carrying a cargo of information and experience...that needs to be off loaded at this port..."

"I guess that I do not have the answer you are looking for...What do you think?"

"I was thinking tugs, then I was thinking freighter...then I was thinking that we are both...depending on any given circumstance that we encounter..."

"What I am seeing as important is to be flexible to the needs of the "other captains" and not fall victim to their egos...or their desire to run this BIG ship from port to port...it is not possible...it takes coordinated efforts and everyone playing their role at the appropriate time..."

"There will be times that we are not tugs or freighters at all but the rescue ship that stands by...just in case a ship breaks down...one of us jumps in...and the other tows the disabled tug to safety!"

"Then you will have one role...and I another..."

"Then it appears that we have a plan and a good one at that...and a good one at that...and..."

"That seems to put closure on the reason that you were standing here..."

"We have a couple of hours...before they are expecting us...their ship is still over the horizon...let's enjoy the calm seas...I have a feeling that we are going to be tested this week...a perfect storm may be brewing...but there is noone else that I would rather be sailing headlong into this storm with than you my young friend!"

With that he stopped talking...and sat...I joined him...we said nothing to eachother for over an hour...there was no need to...he had his ship and I trusted his every move...and he mine...