who in the world is Henrietta?
If you have read our blog post, introduction to between two walz, then you’re most likely caught up on what we’re up to. Between restoring our boat Henrietta, writing music, launching projects for i love the way you lyme and working our regular day jobs, we’ve got quite a lot going on.
You may be wondering how we ended up here, living on a boat in Rhode Island and more importantly…why. If you aren’t wondering, well too bad…I’m gonna tell ya anyway.
In the fall of 2019 Andrew was shipping out on a vessel located in the Indian Ocean with trips between 4 - 6 months. (Fun fact: When Andrew was flying home in March of 2020 and was rerouted to different countries, trying to get back to the states, just as borders were closing due to covid. He almost got stuck in the UK, but he was able to find one of the last flights back to the US by flying into Texas.) Every hitch meant 12-15 hour shifts for 4-6 months with no days off. In addition to the 4-6 months hitch, they were required to quarantine in a hotel prior to flying out which always added on a few extra weeks. Fun, right?
Originally, Andrew’s plan was to ship out for at least five more years. Once I came along, his mind slowly but surely began to change. That five year plan quickly went down to a three year plan which led to a “I’m not sure what the plan is but I applied to a job in Rhode Island” plan finally resulting to a “hey, I got the job and I’m coming home” kind of plan. Now that’s my kind of plan.
Lucky for me (and him, of course) December 2021 was the end of his final hitch. By the way, if you ever hear him mention how he misses shipping out, please remind him of the following three things:
Frozen food
Expensive wifi to call home
Happy people ashore
(Thank you in advance)
Anywho, Andrew got home just in time for good holiday food, quality family time, our New England iltwyl benefit show and most importantly…our first Christmas together in our home.
The holidays with family and friends were special. There was no lack of spreading Christmas cheer as well as spreading of the Christmas covid.
Come January, we had a lot of time on our hands while we were couch-bound for a few weeks trying our best to recover. Andrew had about a month left of vacation before he started his new job in Rhode Island. We knew we needed a place to live so he didn’t have to commute two hours there and back every day during the work week. We had spent most of December looking for the perfect boat. now I realize you may be wondering, “but why a boat?!” and the answer to that is simply, “but why not a boat?”
We kept hitting dead ends during our search except for the time Andrew found what he thought was the “perfect boat” while his family and I had to talk him out of it. Call me crazy, but I wasn’t too keen on getting a boat that had to have the entire portside bulkhead (see glossary below) replaced as well as an inside deck so soft you could pretty much put your foot through it…even if it was almost free. Honestly, the one plus about that boat was the free plants it came with (AKA the wildlife growing on the inside).
So there we were, sick on the couch and running out of hope. We had reached out to a bunch of different listings but heard back from few. In between blowing my nose and feasting on vitamins, I found Serendipity. She was a 1982 40ft. Albin trawler out of Stamford, CT. She looked similar to the boat Andrew had in Seattle, Lady M, that I had fallen in love with when we reconnected. I showed him the listing and he said he had reached out a week prior but had heard nothing back. I decided to go ahead and reach out myself, after all…my boy needs a place to live and we were running low on options. I told Andrew how my mom and I had recently watched her favorite movie “Serendipity” and maybe this means it was meant to be. Wouldn’t you know it, within the hour I had a response from Eddie, the owner of Serendipity.
After a handful of discussions, negotiations and Andrew taking her out for a short cruise in the bay - we had ourselves a deal! Thankfully part of that deal was Eddie sailing the boat up from Stamford, CT to Wickford, RI with Andrew. Did I mention it was the dead of winter? Did I also mention she is a trawler which means she travels at approximately 8 mph? (If you are laughing, so am I.)
If you want the detailed version of how the two, fifteen hour travel days went - feel free to ask Andrew next time you see him. Make sure to ask about the sea water glued to the windshield, coffee spilling and instantly freezing before it could hit the deck, fuel stations being closed and what it was like with no heat on the boat. I can promise you he will deliver a great story with the possibility of some sailor words woven into it.
I had the easy job of picking up Eddie and Andrew two days later in the little town of Wickford Village - our new home away from home. I stopped by the local juice bar where I met my friend who lives within walking distance and picked up the cold lads some treats. As I was leaving to get them, I noticed the small shop right across the street was named Serendipity. (You can’t tell me this stuff is just coincidence).
After their cold trek, Serendipity was ours!
Although the name Serendipity seemed to fit our new home, we wanted to start fresh. Now we’re not superstitious, just a little stitious, so when we changed our boat’s name and removed her transom decals we were sure to keep the “S” aboard to ward off any bad luck. We settled on Henrietta after my grandmother’s middle name. (Fun Fact: Andrew’s first boat, Lady M, was named after his paternal grandmother, Margaret).
And that is the story of who in the world is Henrietta - our new, old friend but soon to be Andrew’s greatest enemy...stay tuned.
xx,
A & M
Glossary terms
port side: left
bulkhead: wall
transom: back wall of the boat
