Natural Born Worrier

I'm quite convinced I lost 2 years off my life this evening. As I mentioned before, Jake went out fishing. . .at 10:30am, with 2 other guys. The person whose boat he went on is somewhat notoriously a) heavy drinker and b) not what you'd call the most skilled boater. Around 4:30, as it was getting dark I thought 'Gee, I hope they're almost back, I sure wouldn't want to be out after dark with him!' At 6pm, I get a text from Jake 'Lost at sea-ish'. Of course, I call to find out what is going on. Jake tells me they were lost, but they think they know where they are now and should be home in a while. I ask (only half jokingly) if I need to call the Coast Guard. At 8pm, still no one is home. I text Jake. No response. By 8:15 I decide that's plenty of time to text back, so I call. .. . phone goes to voicemail. I call fisherman #2 - phone goes to voice mail. I am now officially worried. I don't have the phone number of the boat owner, nor of anyone who would have the boat owners phone number.

I worry a little more.

I remember that one of my girlfriend's husband's would most likely have the number of someone who would have boat owners number, so I call her. Her hubby does have a mutual friend's number, which she gives me while worrying herself.

8:25, I ring Jake's phone one more time before calling the friend - still no answer.

I ring friend and ask 'Do you have boat owner's cell # and how worried should I be that it's been 2 hours since they were lost and no one is answering the phone?' Friend tries to assure me not to worry, that although boat owner is kind of an idiot, he has a crazy expensive boat with GPS on it and neither Jake nor fisher #2 are stupid so if something was going on, they could figure out how to get back even if boat owner couldn't - plus the water is calm. BUT, he adds, "Call me back if you don't hear anything by 9pm" as he gives me boat owners phone #.

I am now bordering on panic, since friend clearly thinks this is mildly worrysome, given that they've been out since the morning. I ring boat owners phone - no answer there either. I begin to figure out my next steps and go online to see how to contact the Coast Guard - knowing full well I do not know WHERE they went to fish, WHAT KIND of boat they are on or what frequency they keep the radio on.

At 8:35 as I am pacing the house, the phone rings and it is Jake - they just pulled into boat owners dock. He had no missed calls, so I guess on the canals snaking back to boat owners house the cell towers are spotty with coverage.

At 8:50, Jake is back home and I am convinced the elevated blood pressure from panicing has done damage to my life expectancy - and I don't know if I feel more like hugging him or hitting him! His response?

'Why were you so worried?'

Perhaps it is HIS life expectancy that will be shortening from this event. . . . . . .