A Tall Ship and a Star to Steer Her By . . .

via here

Okay, I have a dirty confession to make.

I think I figured out why I'm single: because my heart already belongs to someone. When I was 11, I went to see "The Rocketeer" at a vintage theatre in Chicago, and amid the peeling paint and faded gradeur, I fell for my first crush: Billy Campbell. Oh, to my 11-year-old heart he was perfect: square jaw, tall, dark, and handsome, funny, and unassumingly dashing.

I grew up, as people unfailingly do. I followed his career over the years, watching him in little scifi films ("the Cold Equations" was actually pretty good), failed television shows (I liked "Moon Over Miami"!), and odd movie choices ("Enough"?). But, he was always the same, dashing and funny and easy on the eyes, and my 11-year-old heart never quite got over him.

Then, a few years back, I read an interview he gave where he discussed his love of tall ships, and his desire to take time off from acting to sail on them. Gulp. Needless to say, my 11-year-old heart caught up with my twenty-something brain, and my crush blossomed. Sigh.

I met him once, and behaved slightly better than a drooling idiot, though not by much: the ship he chose to sail on was the beautiful Picton Castle, an impressive three-masted barque that is a real working ship, not just a floating museum like so many are these days. The tall ships came to Navy Pier and I spotted him on the deck, looking scruffy but instantly recognizable to a crazy person like me. He was gracious and agreed to a picture, and I tried not to say anything embarrassing. I think I succeeded, but my memories of that meeting are not terribly clear;)

Now, Billy is the proud owner of his own schooner, which he has named after his grandmother (seriously, the guy is so ridiculously sweet). Campbell decided to have his own ship for several reasons, not limited to his love of sailing: the builders are friends and colleagues from the Picton Castle, and the port in Lunenberg is struggling and hoping for revitilization. Campbell's ship, the Martha Seabury, has a twin that is yet available, and I swear if I won the lottery tomorrow that ship would be mine;)

Yes, it is a childhood crush, with all its silly fancies and girlish daydreams. But, my heart--my 11-year-old heart, anyway--belongs to Billy Campbell, and it always will.