Our Island Family Life

Anyway, it was five minutes until the boat was to leave and they were boarding when he showed up. I wasn't freaking out like in the past because I have a plan now of what I will do and that makes me quite calm. He gave me an envelope and they left. I had emailed him Thursday about Connor and the weekend and no response. Yesterday I emailed again and asked him if he could bring the check he was supposed to replace for dental bills I had to send back to him. I reminded him it had been weeks now since I sent it and he could save on a stamp. Since he is so poor I though he would want to save on that 44 cents....:) He didn't respond but I guess he got the email because there was a check in the envelope. The one I got before from Kathryn was for $300, the one from Sean was for $249. I have no idea why it was less or such an odd number. I will have to go back over my records and figure out the exact amount he owes again. What a pain. So I am walking to the ferry when I ran into a guy who lives on the island here and has his own boat. He asked me if I wanted a ride instead of the ferry and I agreed. I saw another summer couple were going with him (his cousins) and another year round guy and his daughter. Nice, I thought. I knew it was a lobster boat and it would be kind of messy but I have gone back with the guy before and I wasn't bothered by it. I was surprised to see he had a full load of bait this time. Usually coming back in the late afternoon or evening from the city he is out of bait. So, the smell was...ripe. Lucky me. I knew once we were out though the wind would blow the scent away...lucky me...:) We get going and I realize he has had a few drinks. This guy I have mentioned before is bi-polar and has been doing well for a while. He used to be a real heavy drinker and it took years to figure out he was bi-polar and more than just depressed or an angry drunk. I haven't spoken to his wife about it in a while so I have no idea if he has been taking his meds and I knew he would take a drink or two but I could see this was going to be an interesting ride. We weren't even out of the harbor and we came alongside a ferry filled with charter people going to another island for a function and he was all "look at me" with his arms out stretched and he had a beer. He threw the can overboard when he was done and thumped his chest and the people on the ferry booed him for littering, shaking their heads and stuff. Lucky me. I was trying to look for the positives here. I saved $11.50 for a ticket. I would be home 45 minutes early, hopefully. The ocean was nice, the day was clear, I was chatting with people I knew. Lucky me. Then our chat was stalled when he heard the guy start yelling. He had been talking to his cousin and I have no idea why she started talking politics but that set him off. He was yelling and swearing and violently moving around. He was mad at the "politicians" though and none of us. I now know he, "G**D*** F****** hates" them and wants to hurt them for taking "his" money. Lucky me. This went on for about 20 minutes. We were getting closer to home and he started to head out to sea and we had to remind him to turn toward our island. Can after can went over board and I lost count at six. I knew he did it so he wife wouldn't be able to count how many he had. She would know he was drunk of course but not exactly how much. At this point I was kind of certain he hadn't taken his meds in a while...lucky me. We had to remind him again to turn towards the dock and again to stop before he hit the rocks when he was trying to tie up to the float. Hey, by then we were close enough to swim. 60 degrees isn't to bad for water temps. He got us there though safe and sound. It had been quite the ride. His cousins thought it was quite funny and I am sure just another story to tell of the crusty lobsterman. Idiots. I had to crawl off the boat since the boat wasn't tied off quite close enough and I got god knows what on my pants. Lucky me. Then, since I was half and hour early my ride wasn't there and I had to walk home. Lucky me. Oh well. I saved some money and got home early. On top of that I was reminded again of how different people have different behavior with bipolar. Not everyone is the same and knowing it and seeing it are two different things. Sean is very different in how he acts. Much sneakier, and his angry explosions are shorter. Since he isn't a big drinker I am sure he has fewer of them because of that. He is slowly drinking more and more as time goes by. I am sure by his 40's he will be a big drinker but for now he is still working his way up. Again, lucky me.