The First Day of Spring....and the " 7 Year Itch"

It is finally here....The First Day of Spring.
Friday, March 20th, 2009.
I got to the marina early this morning for the annual ritual of removing the shrinkwrap. It was a bit chilly when I arrived, about 34 degrees, but the forecast was for a day in the mid 40's.
I started at 9AM and by 11 all the shrinkwrap was removed, and the bimini top was up.....it now looks like a boat again.
Getting the 7 pieces of side curtains installed took the most time, but all in all it is now offically boating season....at least in our minds.
I had plans of removing the shrinkwrap on the Lucky Find II, our 34' Silverton Convertible, today also. But those plans went by the wayside as I was exhausted and it was now 3PM by the time all the little things were done on the Lucky Find III. I let it go till tomorrow.

Saturday, March 21st....a day that will remain in our minds forever.
I arrived at the marina by 8:30AM to begin removing the shrinkwrap from the Lucky Find II. It was cold, 19 degrees but sunny. The weatherman promised me a day in the high 40's.
I had scheduled two appointments to show the Lucky Find II for today. One at 11AM and the other at 11:45 AM.
By 10AM, the covers were off and the bimini was up. Again, the LF 2 looked like a boat. Dottie arrived at 10:15 AM and we both waited to meet our first appointment at 11AM.

Well, 11AM came and went, and so did 11:15AM....we thought we had a no-show. The folks for the 11:45 appointment arrived 15 minutes early, so the day was not a total loss. Joe was a local Sodus Point businessman and he brought two of his friends.
We gave them a tour of the boat, pointed out all the good things and let them have free rein for the next few minutes.
Sure enough, our 11AM shows up at 12 Noon. This couple Moe & Bonnie, came from Rochester....along with 4 of their marina friends. After a few cordial introductions, we had nine people scurrying over the Silverton. Looking into every nook and cranny. Opening and closing hatches, holds and lazerettes.
At about 12:30, Joe and his friends bid farewell with...."I'll give you a call" and Moe and Bonnie and their friends remained.

They must have liked what they saw, because by 1PM Bonnie had her checkbook out. They gave us an offer, and we accepted.
Bonnie wrote the deposit check, we went over the details for closing and then we went aboard the Lucky Find III to seal the deal over a few shots of Crown Royal. Well, at least Moe and Dottie did....afterall, this deal was between them. Bonnie and I don't drink.....Crown Royal, that is.

Both Dottie and I were very happy for selling the Lucky Find II, but down deep we knew we were gong to miss that boat. She served us well over the past 7 years and we really enjoyed her. But we knew that Moe and Bonnie would take good care of her and we wished that they enjoyed her as much as we had.

We wrapped the day up around 3PM and headed home....with check in hand.

Then it dawned on me....March 27, 2002....one week shy of the day we took ownership of the Lucky Find II 7 years ago.....So this is the "7 Year Itch" we have all heard about. Unbelievable!

Thank You....Craig's List!!!