It was the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ music rating for the movie, Scott of the Antarctic, scored for a soprano soloist, girls’s refrain, organ and wind machine, as a lot because the cinematography, that triggered my curiosity in Antarctica. I liked the movie a lot that I by no means forgot once I’d seen it and considered it wistfully each subsequent 12 months. That was in December 1954 once I was 14, in Thurso, the northernmost city on the mainland of Scotland, the place I grew up.
My first marriage resulted in divorce after my then-wife bought the unsuitable concept once I’d taken a purely platonic feminine good friend to a live performance in London. The live performance was a efficiency of Vaughan Williams’s Sinfonia Antarctica. That rang a bell for me.
What was it about Antarctica that was affecting my life each few a long time or so?
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Numerous fortune tellers had instructed me that I used to be blessed with a powerful sense of instinct and that I ought to hearken to “my voices”. Nevertheless they weren’t a lot “voices,” however extra so emotions that felt like they couldn’t be ignored. I selected to not ignore them.
Ten years after my divorce, I‘d been summoned to a hospital close to my hometown the place my mom had simply suffered a debilitating stroke. After holding her hand and speaking to her each afternoon for 2 months, she died in my arms. I took her marriage ceremony ring and for some unknown purpose, positioned it in my trusty leather-based purse, to hold with me wherever I went.
Per week later I booked my first expedition to the Antarctic with an organization known as Clipper Cruises. Their ”World Discoverer” cruise vessel was all of three,500 tons. How was that going to be after we crossed the notorious Drake Passage, I questioned.
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The morning earlier than the cruise, I joined all the opposite excited vacationers on the patio of the Sheraton Lodge in Santiago, Chile for a buffet breakfast. That was when all of it fell into place.
She was standing all on her personal, away from everybody else. I might empathize along with her want for solitude. Nonetheless, I approached her with the pathetic chat-up line, “You appear to be you’ve come from a chilly local weather.” Because it was about 34 levels Celsius that summer time morning within the southern hemisphere, I had wearing shorts and open sandals. She was in heavy boots, with woolen socks, a thick jacket, and an anorak.
“Effectively, it’s chilly in New York,” she mentioned. She gave me a cheeky smile that instantly warmed my coronary heart. After a really quick chat about her plans for the day, she stopped me with, “You’ll must excuse me now. I’ve to name my mom to let her know I’ve arrived safely. And I want a nap.”
After which she was gone. What was her title? No concept. What about her room quantity? No concept, too ahead of a query anyway, however she had talked about she would possibly do town tour later within the afternoon.
We each selected the final bus for the tour of town, which was virtually empty. I didn’t assume I ought to abruptly sit beside her however I did sit on the alternative aspect of the aisle to her seat. Throughout the tour of Santiago, the bus stopped every so often to allow us to all get off the bus to stroll to numerous vital websites or viewing factors. I adopted her round like a misplaced canine; too shy to talk to her and too fearful of being rejected. What should she have considered me, I questioned.
The following day we checked in to our constitution flight to the Falkland Islands the place we’d board our small 3,500-ton expedition vessel. I did handle to have a short dialog along with her and discovered that her title was Eileen, however our allotted seats had been extensively separated on the constitution flight. Throughout the flight, I left my seat and walked up the aisle.
I discovered Eileen close to the ahead exit of our airplane — sitting on the ground of the airplane.
She had been sitting within the final non-smoking row of the plane however was nonetheless surrounded by the cigarette smoke from the rows behind her. She determined her new location can be a lot preferable.
“That was a brief takeoff run we simply made,” I mentioned, doing my greatest to make dialog.
“Sure, it was solely 24 seconds,” she replied.
“What? You timed the takeoff?” I exclaimed. “So do I, each time.” I used to be amazed. Was that serendipity or simply one other signal, I questioned.
Throughout our first briefing on board the ship we had been suggested to decide on a “buddy” in order that, as a security measure, we might stroll collectively throughout all our shore excursions. Eileen requested me if I might be her “buddy”. My coronary heart leaped and I instantly replied within the affirmative. After that we turned inseparable and folks shortly started to assume we had come on board as a pair.
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13 days later, on the finish of the cruise, I accompanied Eileen to the Santiago Airport check-in desk as she was about to depart for New York. By this time she had invited me to journey to New York to fulfill her household and keep along with her for Christmas, and New Yr’s.
Since my divorce, I had by no means considered remarrying. How would I ever learn to reside with one other individual? I fearful. However now the whole lot was completely different. Eileen was the individual I wished to be with for the remainder of my life.
Instantly I had an vital realization: I had my mom’s marriage ceremony ring with me.
I had been carrying the ring round in my leather-based purse ever since Mum had died earlier that 12 months. Now I knew why.
I extracted the ring from my purse and approached Eileen on the airline desk. “I simply wished you to know this isn’t just a few vacation romance for me. It’s very critical. That is my mom’s marriage ceremony ring,” I mentioned as I fumbled along with her fingers. Mum’s ring was too small for Eileen’s ring finger so I slipped it onto her pinky. “If this doesn’t work out, I would like it again.”
“Oh, my goodness, Robin,” she mentioned. “Don’t fear, I don’t anticipate having to return it to you.” Then got here that smile once more. I used to be in heaven.
On November 18, 1994, we had been married in Backyard Metropolis, NY.
Throughout all this time my fascination with Antarctica didn’t diminish. The truth that all these tumultuous developments in my life resulted from a go to to Antarctica was no shock to me. I felt that it was all “meant to be.”
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We returned to Antarctica in January 2023. It was our third journey.
Robin Macdonald was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1940 and refers to himself as The Historic Scot. He has been writing memoirs for eight years. He enjoys writing and sees his memoirs as legacies for his 5 grandsons ranging in age from 16 to 26. Now residing in Lengthy Island, New York, since 1995, he and his spouse take pleasure in touring to all seven continents.
