Round About…the prompt

In 2023, these paragraphs are what I led my post on for what I knew about the year I was born…not much. But here they are:

Prelude

“Swallowing the anchor” is the phrase sailors use to describe coming ashore permanently. Consider you give up on the vast horizon, the lift and movement of the ship, the routine of ship work and watches, and watching the celestial movements in an intimate fashion never found ashore.  Another thing you give up coming ashore is language. The overhead becomes the ceiling, the head the bathroom and at sea a holiday can refer to a messy spot left while cleaning. The dining room is, of course, the mess or mess deck, and who would want to eat in a mess? Bluntly, you give up an entire life, and vocabulary.

Funnily, this all has to do with the year I was born. It was the year that my mother convinced my father to swallow the anchor. Note that I did not say coerced; I said convinced. As a result of my father coming ashore, I received a complete maritime education by age nine. His urge to be at sea needed an outlet. I grew up with a good helping of the romance of the sea.

TINS

Now, here is my added stuff this time around! I also grew up as a lover of stories. Sea stories are an entire genre of their own. There is a formula – it’s called “TINS – this is no shit”. Here is an example:

“Now this is no shit. I heard it from my shipmate, and when I landed, the chief mate told me he had seen it too! Off the starboard bow, there was this….”

And so it goes on to a phenomenal ending, which a shipload of nautical storytellers will attest to! See TINS! Famously, we nautical types compare our exalted traditions to mere fairy tales. Pah! Once Upon A Time. OUAT isn’t even a word!

Anyhow, while I know little about the year in which I was born. I know a lot about the traditions from which we Carreras arise.

Now, listen up! This is no shit! All my stories are true…But I have this fond affection for sea stories. So pass the word and take due notice thereof!