CAN SOMETHING YOU LOVE BE YOUR NEMESIS?

Nemesis was the Greek Goddess of Vengeance. And Justice. Which, to me, are NOT the same thing. Do Definitions Change That Much?

I was sticky. Seam Compound inexplicably found its way into as well as onto my dark blue rubber gloves, then to my cheek as I impatiently pushed the frizzy curls away, and to the underside of my left forearm, near the elbow, that place that is hard to see and even harder to scrub. I’m not neat, and I’m not fast, but I eventually get the job done. I’m also much humbler than I used to be. Dirty jobs can do that, make you appreciate the easier ones you used to have and the people who dig in, day after day, and do the really hard ones.

We use an extensive array of products to SPAR with our Nemesis, water.

Seam Compound is a mixture of natural(?!) MSDS data-sheet listed ingredients which help reduce water ingress. That and a few dozen other products man harvests, distills, creates, manufactures, and applies will get us afloat, fastened, and running with the wind again. These tools of the marine trade are applied in an assortment of mostly time-consuming and vigorous ways, layer after layer, to the PRECIOUS COMMODITIES, in our case wood, that we have discussed, acquired and admired of late. (You can catch up here and here if you haven’t read those).

The Cambridge Dictionary tells us that “Someone’s NEMESIS is a person or thing that is very difficult for them to defeat.” And while we’re not out to defeat the blue waters of the world, there are days when I get this ridiculous perception they may just be out to defeat me. Seems like I’m personifying, right? It’s nothing personal that water, which I revere, damaged the vessel which allows me to live on that very same water. The oceans also supply nourishment, transportation, exploration, joy, peace and beauty to my world. I know this. They’re also what we’re up against.

Water....and all that it provides....

We need to make substantial repairs and take all these protective precautions with our floating wooden home because we are voluntarily SPARRING WITH MOTHER NATURE, up close and personal. What, exactly, is our NEMESIS? It is the environment we entrenched ourselves in. We chose the worst possible conditions for wood, metal, fabrics and people: constant exposure to salt water, rain water, sun, humidity, and all the creatures that live therein and nearby. I rarely mention the mold on the ceiling and the remarkable ability of perky songbirds birds to shit exactly where you don’t want them to, but those, too, contribute. The array of winged digestive machines currently occupying our rigging are a nemesis, indeed.

The purple berries are definitely a favorite. Target practice?

There are other definitions, of course, and those creative Greeks are at the root of it. While there are twelve principal deities in the Greek Pantheon, according to Quora.com, they also named, envisioned and defined as many as four hundred minor Gods, Nemesis being one of these. According to Merriam-Webster, “Nemesis was the Greek Goddess of Vengeance, a deity who doled out rewards for noble acts and punishment for evil ones. The Greeks believed that Nemesis didn’t always punish an offender immediately but might wait generations to avenge a crime.” Ah, a God with a long memory for evil-doers instead of one insisting on forgiveness? Sometimes, perhaps, that is appropriate, (and justified?). You go girl. Symbolreader.com states that Nemesis was “the Restorer of Cosmic Order,” a tall order indeed!

That ancient civilization had physical representations of nearly every emotion as well as all of Mother Nature’s elements. Most of those representations were beautiful human figures, and Nemesis was no exception. I definitely think of vengeance as negative, and it can certainly be ugly. Even when deserved, it seems to be darker than retribution or justice. If the original Goddess of Vengeance doled out both rewards and punishments, that sheds quite a different light on the meaning.  

Merriam-Webster continues, “In English, nemesis originally referred to someone who brought a just retribution, but nowadays people are more likely to see simple animosity rather than justice in the actions of a nemesis.” Simple animosity could be an oxymoron; there’s nothing too simple about hostility or what it can ultimately cause. My songbirds aren’t vindictive. They’re just doing what they do, a fact that is hard to remember when I see them calling their friends over for a very-berry, high-fiber snack.

I need to hang a Sharpie at each end of the boat so we can mark how many times we’ve walked the length of her, like notches on a lipstick case, or a gun stock, or days in solitary confinement. As I stretched down to the next rung down on the scaffold for the hundredth time that day, (our monkey bars for adults), I promised to make it happen. These projects can be difficult to quantify and it will be hard to believe how many times we’ll walk these planks on the passage of rebuilding, recaulking, rebedding, repainting and protecting the seems-to-be-getting-bigger-every-week STEADFAST.  

We all live with environmental challenges to some extent, don’t we? Two of the three basic necessities are shelter and clothing. Those keep our environments mostly at bay unless a tornado or hurricane is created by our favorite creator. Our hearts go out to the many folks impacted by Helene.

This week found us moved into a little ‘downtown’ apartment over the local tattoo parlor (some things you never anticipate) and the mailman returned a package as we were unknown to him. He was apologetic, genuine, interested in our story, and you know what else he did? He restored some more of my faith in human nature, that’s what he did. I ran into him again an hour or so after we met (this is not a big town) and he asked me if I had a car or needed a ride for groceries or anything at all. He reached out to offer help to a transient, boat-dwelling, middle-aged writer wandering the streets of her new hometown. Bless him.

And me? Nemesis and all, I have another new view, and another new friend. It doesn’t get much better than that.

THANK YOU, my readers, for being here. I hope you enjoyed your SUNDAY MORNING READ!

This week’s sunrise… as we enter fall I hope all those boats make it out for one last sail…and I wish we were going with them… J

Reach to the skies in all you do, nemesis or no nemesis!

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