White, who was nearly eighty years old, had not been dragged down by the rush to build a large ship, and his eyes shone with the calm glow of the sunset.
In June, we were invited by our neighbor friend Mr. White to board his private yacht for the third time and embarked on a ten-day Alaskan sea voyage. White will spend his 83rd birthday on this voyage. White is old, overweight, has a heart bridge in his body, also suffers from high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and in the first half of the year, he removed the right lobe of his lungs, and we all vaguely feel that this may be the last chance to go to sea with White.
White's passion for sailing and hunting has hunted antelopes and rhinos in Africa, and has traveled to nearly 200 countries and territories throughout his life. On a huge map of the world in the corridors of the company, densely packed with red spikes, marks of where he had been. He changed yachts several times in his life. At the age of 77, he announced a big investment of his own: to customize a larger yacht as a treat to his 80th birthday. "Crazy", almost everyone is puzzled by his crazy decision, after all, the age is not spared, and his current nearly 100-foot luxury yacht has taken him to Alaska, the Bahamas, Panama and the Gulf of Mexico and countless other seas for fishing in the past 10 years, why change to a bigger guy? After a long bespoke began at a seattle shipyard, White left the company in the hands of his son, and he and his wife began a monthly round-trip flight between Los Angeles and Seattle. He's an engineer, he has decades of experience in boat ownership, he is involved in the design of every part of the yacht, every detail of the yacht, he is fun and does not feel that it is a burden.
It is unbelievable that after more than two years of protracted warfare, White, who is nearly eighty years old and whose vital organs may be stopped at any time, has not been dragged down by the rush and toil of building a large ship, but has kept his body and mind in a better state than before. We ordinary people also gradually realized the good intentions of old White: when a person has enjoyed almost all the riches and glory of the world, the ordinary days of day after day will let the fire of his life be dimmed in boredom, and only an amazing adventure plan, a goal that can be called a challenge, can satisfy his appetite and make him unslack. I guess he has encouraged himself countless times in his heart: Old man, you give me a good life, I must live well, and enjoy this big baby to the fullest!
Finally, the yacht, which was as long as a warship, was successfully underground before White's 80th birthday, and the large ship was named "Hunter" in Spanish, representing White's character of seizing any opportunity to attack, and a total of three floors and six bedrooms were also equipped with elevators. On the wall of the restaurant, hanging a large oil painting, an old man with a thin body but a torch-like gaze, standing in his broken boat, is throwing out a long fishing line and riveting with full strength to tear with a large marlin that has grown over the hull of his ship, which should be the scene of Hemingway's world famous book "The Old Man and the Sea", White liked the painting at a glance, specially invited the painter to Seattle, and added two shoulder straps for the old man - this is a typical White dress, so that, White was the old man in this little boat who fought the giant marlin. In real life, White, who is experienced in fishing, has caught countless marlins, tuna, flounder, salmon... Now that he was old, he no longer stood on the side of his luxury yacht to personally pull the line, but sat on the deck and commanded the young man with the arrogance of a big man, but the inherent indomitable strength, the stubborn character that could be destroyed but could not be defeated, was the same as hemingway's old man. He finally fulfilled his grand wish to spend his 80th birthday on his newly built luxury yacht!
Now, on the same day three years later, White celebrates his 83rd birthday at the end of the voyage. In the beautiful and magnificent scenery of Alaska, amid the cheers and celebrations of our group, this 83-year-old man who could not help but feel a sense of adoration, like a satisfied child, blew out the candles on the birthday cake, and after a few seconds of silence, he closed his eyes and silently made a birthday wish. I don't know what he said to himself at that moment, but I think back to the day I saw him staring out at the sea, his eyes shining with the calm glow of the setting sun. I guess he said in his heart: Hey, the rich and powerful travel in space in their own spaceships, and I experience Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" on my hunter yacht, and I also want to meet the indomitable "moby whale" in Hermann's novel! At this moment, only to hear White speak excitedly: "It's good to wake up alive every day!" I never had the luxury of living to this day. He proudly said that his life was very complete, there were no regrets, and the rest of the time should be a gift from God. (Gong Nan)