The Renée Review

February 18, 2006

Marlo and I are bonded spirits. She can disappear with her cousins or friends for a few days without my really spending our normal one on one time together, but she always reaches a breaking point. The need for private Mom time becomes necessary and today was that day.

I woke first and enjoyed the lovely silence necessary for writing and personal thought. It was nice to have the salon all to myself. When Marlo woke, she asked for private time for just she and I.

Eric & Ryan Tepper took her refusal to play in stride as she and I ate breakfast on the fly deck, had a private game of scrabble, played in the water and spent time on a private snorkel. The Mountain Point anchor spot on Virgin Gorda is sublime! The water is flat and clear with swimming off Panache’s swim platform. The reef is plentiful and we spotted a tremendous variety of sea life.

Coral: common sea fan, tube coral in a variety of colors, brain coral, barrel sponge, giant tube sponge, ivory bush coral, stag horn coral, ivory tube coral, elk horn coral, flower coral

Parrotfish: red banned parrotfish, rainbow parrotfish, stoplight parrotfish, blue parrotfish, and midnight parrotfish
Butterfly fish: four eye butterfly fish, banded butterfly fish, spot fin butterfly fish
Grunt: smallmouth grunt, blue striped grunt, French grunt
Grouper: Nassau grouper, red grouper, tiger grouper
Hind: rock hind, red hind
Yellow: yellowtail snapper, yellow jack, yellowtail damselfish
Blue: blue tang, blue head wrasse, and blue angelfish
Others: Queen angelfish, rock beauty, grasby, fairy basslet, barracuda, tarpon, silversides, trumpet fish, sergeant major, long spined sea urchin and more

Marlo later became more sociable and we all played on the water trampoline followed by waterskiing. Paul went first and did very well. Paul has not water-skied since 1983 and with only one knee – whew, he was impressive! It was so funny watching the expressions on his face as he contemplated the skis, the wake and his options. I desperately wanted to go, but was afraid of torking my back and Marlo was very fearful of my trying, so she went next. Paul stayed in the water to give Marlo comfort and coaching while Mark Schwegman & Justin Smit coordinated efforts. Marlo was frightened but determined to give this new sport a try. She took several face plants, never giving up. We finally called it the end, promising more time to try once we fueled up with food.

After lunch, Larry Tepper gave it a go – he almost had it!!!! Sooooo close! Once Larry came in, I couldn’t stand it another second and I decided to go for it. I used to love water-skiing; so, it was time to test the spine fusion. I have not water skied since 1987.

I put on a slalom ski and my first go was face plant city. I gave the thumbs up to go again and got up this go round. It was great; I had a long run, jumped the wake three times and couldn’t believe I could still do this – awesome! Marlo was jazzed that her Mom can water-ski and Paul was hooting with enthusiasm. I stayed in the water with Marlo for her next series of tries and then Larry Tepper got in for the assist after I got to cold. Marlo still did not have it, but she got really close. I feel certain that tomorrow will be her day; she’ll get the muscle memory and stand for a nice run. She’s so determined there’s no way she’s not going to make it! Boy is she going to sleep well tonight. Once we came in, Paul left with Justin Smit to do some scuba diving – he loved it!

After dinner, Marlo still wanted alone time with me, so she and I watched the Hilary Duff movie, “A Cinderella Story” before calling it a night. Marlo went to bed easily and has fully recalibrated. Tomorrow she’ll be ready again to socialize.