Our first visit was on my 60th birthday. We’ve since become PILOTS. This is the semi-poem I wrote for our Christmas card that year:

No carburetor, no fuel injectors, no gasoline-oil mixture, no fouled plugs, no water pump, no propeller shaft, no starter motor, no dead battery, no flat tire, no burned out hub, no tags, no title, no trips to the DMV, no backing down the ramp, no winter storage. Just eight foot cedar oars, leather collars, seams up, in the oar locks, two corgis, one very best friend for life, Mystic River, Sunday Morning, church bells ringing, 60th birthday and wishing a merry Swampscott Dory to everyone.