Boat, 9:30am. It's daylight but headlights still guide through the soup. Despite the fog, being here is reminiscent of summer.

--I wish you could see my handwriting. This vessel has just roared its engines, straining against the inertia of a calm bay in the morning fog. It is reversing and the vibrations make my penmanship a measurement of tremors more than a record of my thoughts.--

Moving now: We have broken free of the water, riding on top - defying it entirely and avoiding the conflict of friction. The view is beautiful: visibility at about 50 yards, the texture of still grey water fading away into smooth clouds of moisture. Fog horns sound at intervals. On this morning, I cannot be distracted by the detailed relief of shorelines. I should be studying but I am more content to listen to music or to just write a bit like I have done on nearly every ferry ride since I returned from Korea. I may sleep too. Others are sleeping. Two black birds glided out from the nothing into view and then out again. A perfect black and white image: white white mist, black black soaring birds, and all gradations of grey rolling and rolling under a thin skin of water's surface. I think I will sit here for awhile, gazing into the static scenery, indulging a fantasy or two.

Around the corner, someone turned on the sunshine and the world came alive in full color. There were seals snoozing on the buoy again. They looked cute and soft, like a Rosa. Then a bald eagle flew overhead. It took a moment for its white hood and great wing span to register in my mind. When I see an eagle, I believe it is a sign that all is right and good, that I am doing the right thing. I wear one on my wrist, you know. The presence of eagles at certain moments in my life have been significant before.

What will it be like to see him again? It has been so long.

Later I saw another bald eagle flying overhead while I was driving past Federal Way on I-5. This one was being chased by a small bird who felt threatened by the presence of a greater creature than itself.

I understand.