A Different Kind Of Hostess Gift

I imagine some of you are the type to bring a bottle or wine, a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates with you when someone invites you over to dinner. The more creative among you might even bring something homemade, like a delicious jar of fruit preserves, a set of embroidered dishtowels or a tin of chocolate chip cookies (my personal favorite). 

You're the type of people whose mothers raised them right - considerate and thoughtful. Everyone wants to invite you back again and again, not only for your charming company, but also for your incredible hostess gifts. You're the talk of the town. "You know that dinner party we're having next week? Let's invite Jane along. I hear she's making her own sea salt scrubs which she puts into antique bottles she found at a flea market the last time she was in Paris. Maybe she'll bring one along as a gift."

Well, as much as I'd like my own jar of sea salt scrub, I just received an even better gift yesterday. It's the gift that any boat owner can appreciate. Yes, it's duct tape. But, not just any duct tape. It's shiny silver duct tape. Because if you're going to add duct tape to something, it should have a little sparkle and shine to it.

You might think I'm kidding, but I'm not. This is seriously one of the best and most thoughtful presents I've received in a long time! Do you know what makes it so perfect? It was given to me by a fellow Moody 346 sailboat owner. Someone who knows what it's like to live on one of these boats. Someone who intimately knows how badly the windows and hatches leak. Someone who is clever enough to have come up with the perfect solution to make the leaks stop until everything can be rebedded. 

I never thought I would get so excited to meet someone who owns the same boat as us. I can't say that I ever got excited if I met someone who owned the same model of car as I had. "Oh, you have a Honda Civic too? Wow, I can't believe we parked right next to each other! Aren't Honda Civics just the best cars ever?"

Yeah, those kind of conversations never happened back in the day. 

But, getting an email from someone who just bought a Moody 346 in Florida - well, that's pretty cool. Bob (let's call him Bob shall we as I'm not sure he wants to be dragged into this blog nonsense using his real name) came over for a visit yesterday. I can't believe how interesting it was to talk about engines, leaky hatches and fiberglass crazing. 

My goodness, how times have changes. I can't believe I even wrote that last sentence, let alone found the conversation interesting. And he was really interesting too as a person. I loved hearing about his backstory and his travel experiences. But, I think that's the case with most boat people. They're, by their nature, interesting folk. Or weird. However you want to look at it. 

It was such a great visit topped off by the lovely gift of shiny silver duct tape. Seriously, if someone ever invites you over for dinner, by all means bring freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, but take a tip from Bob and bring some duct tape too. You might be surprised how excited your hostess gets. 

I should point out that I wasn't even a great hostess (dinner was not provided, not even dessert), which made the gift even more of a lovely surprise.

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