Di-Reckly in the feels

 

    Well, one week to go before I head home for Christmas. Tonight was my night to get up early (at oh-oh-forty five in fact) as we go on dog watches for the day to switch from days to nights, as B takes over the role of first among equals here on the HQ- the day guy generally calls more of the shots, since he has to answer the phone and emails, leaving him more in tune with The Office. 

    So I am on nights for my last week- not as much fun this time of year, where nights are cold and more often than not annoyingly windy. 

 But, my point here is that in a week I go home for Christmas, and I'm pretty excited and grateful for that. 

       Yesterday, I bunkered a Pure Car/Truck Carrier anchored up in NY harbor with her sister ship- the two vessels have some work for a bit moving cars from Mexico to New Jersey. 

 The crew? Filipino unlicensed, Ukrainian officers. 

 As sometimes happens, the crew has been working hard and VERY busy for the past week, and time at anchor, even with bunkering operations, represents a slower pace for them, a chance to relax a bit, especially for guys off watch.  This made them gregarious, and as we were about eye to eye for much of the operation, I spoke to them just as much as they spoke to me. 

         Their stories are not easy stories. These are guys who can't go home. All of them are working to support their extended families, paying in some cases for them to relocate, to find new homes, or to access the black and gray markets for purchasing necessities.   When their contracts are up, they fly to Romania or Germany, there to take a weekend off and start finding another ship. Most have been working relatively nonstop for 2 1/2 years, with a week or two at most between ships.  The chief engineer, a hearty old timer, one of those guys who speaks with great authority but obviously well-liked by his crew and enormously skilled, has family missing and assumed dead.  He isn't the only one. 

               One of those things that hits home. I feel for these guys. I absolutely, Thank God, can't relate. Still, it was good I think for them to talk to a foreigner who was sympathetic, and it was pretty obvious that the 3rd and 4th assistant engineer, young kids in their early 20's, had a father-figure thing going on with the chief. 

    I didn't get one of those 'there but for the grace of God' moments, but sure as hell I was deeply moved by what they shared, which wasn't much. I wasn't going to push either, to draw them out, as their lives are not good at the moment, but hopefully it did them  individually some kind of good to find a willing ear.  I can't empathize. I am blessed not to have shared experience, and I am extremely grateful for that. 

            Makes me even more grateful that in a week I'll be with my family.