The Yellow Finch a Black Bikini and a Rat Called Hernandez

<p><strong>I was looking for a sailor to take me away on an adventure.</strong></p><p></p><p>You can die making love playing tennis shoveling snow mowing the lawn-or walking through Arrivals at an airport like my husband Lars. The morning of the day he died I dreamed that my family and I were standing at a bed where he lay with his eyes closed. It was June 28 2002.</p><p></p><p>In the 1970 movie <em>Woodstock</em> of all the hippies interviewed one caught my eye: a naked guy sitting on a rock in a pond. Do you always swim naked? asks the cameraman. With a big toothy grin he says It's the only way to swim. Later in the movie he's seen on a pay phone talking to his girlfriend. With his wavy blonde hair spilling on to his face he's shouting It's a free concert! The gates are down!</p><p></p><p>Lee (that hippie) and I met in person some 30 years later in Beaufort South Carolina. I had recently lost my husband. Lee was looking for a first mate to sail the high seas of the world with him. I was looking for a sailor to take me away on an adventure. Fate brought us together at the perfect moment.</p><p></p><p>Wendy Fredell has been a model graphic designer newspaper contributor and freelance writer and has sailed over 24000 miles to 50 countries. Her essay A Budding Genius was included in Oprah's book <em>Live Your Best Life</em>. When she's not sailing she lives in Austin Texas. <em>The Yellow Finch a Black Bikini and a Rat Called Hernandez</em> is her debut work.</p>