New Gifts
New GIfts
By Kamali’i Andrade
August 10th, 2025
Throughout all my years at PMDP there’s a single thing that has remained consistent, the gift of something special and new. Across countless expeditions and seemingly endless sea days that gift has kept on giving. This year more than ever I’ve realized that. I had forgotten for a moment that the new experiences make everything worth it. You never fully grasp the moment you become jaded or complacent with both hands, it creeps up on you and takes you unprepared. Being around for a vast majority of the million pounds removed from our ancestral islands, I can confidently say I let complacency slip through my fingers and became jaded to the whole ordeal.
Through comfort in familiarity and the slow grinding of days and days everything naturally became dull. Until this year, everything resplendently crashed down on me all at once and the weight of this responsibility rested firmly on my shoulders where it belongs. The greatest proprietor of that was everything new tumbling to my doorstep in the midst of preparation for this trip. New faces, new blood, new gear, new mechanical issues, new rules, and new perspectives.
So many new things plopped into my scarred old hands. Fidgeting through all these new things with calloused fingers slowly ground them new again. New things which I previously faced with animosity have become my most prized possessions this year. It made me wonder where I would be without becoming anew occasionally.
This year I’ll miss the new things the most.
New laughter across the ship deck.
New jokes cracked uncomfortably over dinner.
New smiles filling the galley.
New excitement for new things.
New memories.
New ideas.
New nicknames.
New personalities watching the same old movies for the millionth time.
A new happiness.
A new me who has to sprint to keep pace with everything and everyone new this year.
A new perspective.
And with that hopefully I’ll be back for a new million pounds. But eventually things grow irreparable and need to get changed for something new. My years as a mechanic taught me that well.
Meet the Author
kamali’i andrade
Learn more about Kamali’i here!