Nautical lifestyle, on the boat you can travel to new destinations, worlds, islands, exploration. In December I had the opportunity to page through the log books from Felicity. Almost every evening and certainly every weekend we would cruise the Grosse Pointe shoreline with Bud and Jane.
For weeks at a stretch we executed an ambitious voyage to the northern most locations of lake Huron, coves, islands, rocks with single trees sprouting from them. Once even crossing under the Mackinaw bridge. Bud was an advocate of tradition and this became our family tradition, every summer looked forward to more than Christmas. During these voyages I learned about getting along with others in tight quarters, the simple things in life like finding a bakery in any remote Canadian town (they all had them). I bonded with my father, we would have long conversations about his childhood. As a group we explored nature, visited remote boatyards, piloted the dinghy, climbed tiny rocky islands. On rare occasion we were able to get Bud to jump into the cold water. I continue Bud's tradition with a cruising boat of my own.
Transfer of knowledge and attitudes, kindness, patience. Bud is the kindest person I've ever known. Bud and Jane would baby sit me as a child while my mother was in school. From them I learned (and continue to learn and re-learn) by example the value of kindness and picked up basic sewing, knitting, and nettle work skills.
Flower shop, community, permanency. It's hard to imagine in this overly-competitive modern era that a small family owned business can survive from the late 19th century into the 21st. But this is a tradition that Bud inherited and continued. This was Bud's career, he achieved it through honesty and kindness, everyone knows Bud.
Bud's life was ideal, I will always remember him as the kind grandfather out of a storybook. Let us continue to let Bud lead us by example to be kind and gentle to each other no matter how difficult life is and how competitive things become.
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