The Key
There was only one key on the ring and it allowed access to the confines of our vessel.
Article by Jonathan Lewis
As I contemplated many of the comments concerning my last submission, it occurred to me how content I was in 1988 when my wife and I departed Boston to begin a sail north to Maine. We then followed our compass needle south down the entire East Coast, crossed the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas and jumped off to the Caribbean. We had shed ourselves of all our “worldly possessions” including car, condo and the majority of its contents. When we stepped aboard our ultralight displacement sailboat, Tranquility Base, I reached into my pocket to retrieve my keys to unlock the companionway. The cork float and attached stainless split ring felt unusually light and unfamiliar. There was only one key on the ring and it allowed access to the confines of our vessel. It suddenly hit me that our lives had become seriously uncomplicated and the shedding of all the other small sculptured pieces of metal that gained entrance to home, storage, automobile and various other locks had vanished. I felt released from the great burden that the accumulation of “stuff” put on our shoulders. We lived with that freedom and one key mentality for several years but eventually returned to a life ashore and the quest to accumulate.
People frequently ask me, “How many motorcycles do you need?” I own eight. I have too many keys to possibly fit on a normal ring and now have racks displaying and categorizing the shiny metal objects.
So….how about an SCA reader poll? How many keys are in your pocket or handbag?
I’m nostalgic for my solitary piece of amalgamation of ore that provided me with a permit to freedom aboard our Tranquility Base. •SCA•
This is fun. On my car-fob (electronic entry) I have ONE key, for the house. Yes, there are 15 -20 other keys on their respective hooks. I find myself wondering why . . . Just one key on my person. Perhaps it’s akin to separation of church and state (?), or work and play. Trying to avoid cross-contamination (?)! When we go to ‘camp’ (the cabin, the cottage, whatever you call it in your neck of the woods) — I don’t want to be reminded that I have an office, keys to others’ homes, the shed (that needs to be cleared out(!) — so I keep the ‘camp-key’ on it’s own special ring (has a monkey’s fist on the ring; makes me smile). Enough rambling. Or maybe I just don’t like fumbling for the house-key when we come home after dark and I forgot to leave the porch light on. Who knows? Thanks for the question.
But at least 5 of those keys are for boats or boat locks