Where The Boat Leaves From

“There’s a place, where the boat leaves from

It takes away all of your big problems

You got worries, you can drop them in the blue ocean

But you gotta get away to where the boat leaves from”… Zac Brown Band

Ernie and I were cruising down the Overseas Highway on our way to Key West from Miami.  The beautiful May sun was shining a warm, golden yellow. The skies were cerulean blue, with some wispy clouds sitting softly in the sky, as if put there by the delicate touch of a painter.  The sea was a spectacular aquamarine that reminded me of the Caribbean. 

“Ah.  Life is good today,” I thought.

When we were about an hour out from our destination, Ernie put the Jimmy Buffet station on Spotify.  I heard this jaunty tune about “you gotta get away to where the boat leaves from” and I asked, “Oh, who sings this? I like it!”

Ernie responded, “ Zac Brown Band.”  

“Who,” I asked?  I had never heard of him/them before.

“Oh, well, whoever he is, I like him,” I said.

After Jimmy was done blowing out his flip-flop and looking for his lost shaker of salt, another song I had never heard came on.

“I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand

Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand

Life is good today, life is good today”

“Who’s this,?” I asked.

“Zac Brown Band,”  Ernie answered, clearly amused.

“Get out! Really? I never heard of this guy before, and there’s two songs that I really like! He just nailed what I was thinking!”

Soon we arrived in Key West and thoughts of Zac Brown were quickly replaced by a crisp rosé, even crisper fish tacos, along with sun, sand and sea.

The next evening we booked a sunset sail that included a wine and cheese tasting.  It was a beautiful evening as we boarded the sail boat.  The sun, which by then was a large, orange disc, sat low on the horizon.  The sky was shimmering in beautiful soft pinks, purples and oranges. 

Ernie and I exchanged glances as we took in our fellow cruisers.  We surreptitiously smiled to each other at the one guy who looked like Captain from Captain and Tenille.  There were maybe 6 of us in total, so it was a cozy group.

Todd was the first mate who was pouring the drinks and serving the cheese. 

Todd was pretty good at pouring the wine.  Let’s just say we sampled a lot of wine.  By the time we got off the boat we were beyond buzzed and feeling good! We thanked/tipped/said good bye to everyone and walked on in search of dinner.

We didn’t get far when we noticed a Tervis Tumbler store.

“Mary!,” Ernie exclaimed.  “Look! A Tervis Tumbler store!”

For those of you who don’t know Ernie, he loves Tervis Tumblers.  We have numerous ones and often times, give them as gifts.  For the uninitiated, they are plastic, double insulated cups that are designed to keep hot drinks hot and cold ones cold.  Ernie would score deals on them at Bed, Bath & Beyond or Kohl’s.

So of course, we had to go in.

Note:  Do not go into any favorite stores when you are tipsy.  We drunk bought SO MANY TERVIS TUMBLERS. 

“Look, Mary, this one has a palm tree!” 

“Oooh, Ernie, this one says Key West!” 

“Oh, we have to get this one it says Mile Post 0!” 

“Hey, they have an ice bucket! We have to get an ice bucket!”. 

At the checkout, not sure exactly how much we spent, but the cashier told us if we spent a little more we could get free shipping! Alrighty then! Gotta take advantage of that deal!  And so we added more to our basket.

We exited the Tervis Tumbler store quite excited about our purchases and still very tipsy.

“Ok, ok, we gotta find that restaurant,” I said.  “I think if we go up this street, it’s over that way, we should find it.”  Food was a necessary requirement at that point, if only to soak up some of the wine we had had.

As we were walking towards the restaurant we heard music.  Good music.  Live music.  We started dancing on the sidewalk. This is fun!  We were drawn to the music like the rats were to the Pied Piper.  We danced walked our way towards it and found ourselves outside a dive bar.

“Mary,” Ernie said excitedly, “this is the Green Parrot! This is a famous bar! I wanted to go here, let’s go in!”

“Ok, why not? We can have one drink and then head to the restaurant,” I said.

Ernie bought us each a beer and we were moving and grooving to the band that was playing.  Rock music.  They were excellent.

We were starting to get hungry and we found out there was no food there, just popcorn.  We paused to eat some popcorn.  As we were standing there, who do we see come walking in? Todd! Our wine-pouring first mate!

“Todd,” we yelled, “over here!”.  Like, the last thing Todd probably wanted was to hang with his drunk customers.  But he walked over and seemed like he was happy to see us. Ernie bought him a beer and that made him even happier.

Ernie bought him another beer and you’d have thought we and Todd were best friends.

At that point, Todd leans in and says conspiratorially, “I heard that Zac Brown is going to drop in and play a set with this band.”

“WHAT?!!,” I shrieked.  I almost Elaine Bennis shoved him. “I know him, I know him!,” not unlike Will Ferrell in Elf. 

Todd looked at me askance. 

“Well, I don’t know him know him, but I heard his music for the first time yesterday and I really like him! How crazy is it that he is going to be here!”

Ernie and I were pretty hungry at that point, despite the popcorn, but we couldn’t leave then.  Not with a possible Zac Brown appearance.  So we ate some more popcorn and drank some more beer.

Suddenly, the place started to buzz.  He’s here, he’s here!

In walked Zac Brown.  So nonchalant, regular guy, no major entourage, just a couple of guys. He was kinda short.  Cute.  Dark t-shirt, jeans. He walked right past us, up to the stage, and joined the band.

The Green Parrot is a small place.  I stood maybe 2 feet from him.  The stage wasn’t a stage so much as an elevated platform.

He introduced himself and proceeded to sing a few songs.  I Shall be Released.  Comfortably Numb and a couple of other songs I can’t remember.  I tried to record some of it on my phone, but that effort was not very successful.  Not surprisingly.  What was surprising was that I could operate my phone at all by that point.

He finished and thanked everyone and prepared to leave.  I saw the path he would take to leave and so positioned a bar stool such that he would pass right by me.

As he walked right by me, I leaned in and said, “Thank you so much, that was awesome!”  Or something to that effect. 

He touched my knee and said “Thank you, I appreciate that, have a good night.”

And that was it.  My Zac Brown moment. 

The next morning we tried to make sense of the night before- Where’s all my cash? Did we spend that much money? What did we buy at the Tervis Tumbler store? Did we ever have dinner?

And, despite the wicked hang over, I remarked, “But we saw Zac Brown and he touched my knee and spoke to me personally!”

Yeah, all your worries, all your problems you can drop them in the blue ocean, but you gotta get away to where the boat leaves from.