Okay, so, neither Joel nor I will ever win the award for “most attentive blogger”… oh well. I used to try to keep diaries when I was younger; I think my record for consecutive entries was 3 days. Back then, my excuse was, “My life is too boring to write about; nobody wants to know what I eat for breakfast or do during school”. Now, I find myself teetering on the edge of the same excuse that causes most of us sailors to embark on our journeys in the first place: I’m busy. But busy doing what exactly?
Well, for once in my life, I may have a decent excuse. Joel and I spend most of our free time simply talking. We’re planning a wedding, and though it took us (okay, me) a while to get the guts to plan the wedding that we truly want (a Grayton Beach wedding including only our closest relatives… instead of the initially-planned Carlyle Lake wedding, which would’ve had a guest list of about 200 because we felt like we had to invite that many), we’re so much happier and more excited. This February 16, 2013, Joel and I will be celebrating 5 years of dating and begin the rest of our years as a married couple. Pretty cool, huh? The rest of our thoughts dwell on our life goals. Obviously, we want to go cruising before we get anchored by some of the great, but heavy, things in life (kids, etc). However, we need some funds to do that, and we also want to get accustomed to married life before we confine ourselves to a sailboat for extended periods of time. We’re dealing with some big questions/challenges, and there are no simple answers.
Believe it or not, we have accomplished some work on the boat since our last entry in May. Joel installed a storage compartment in the galley where the old broken cooler used to be. I refinished the salon floor. I got a lot more sailing/coving out experience… most recently this weekend, when we were sleeping through winds sustained at 10 and gusting at 16 knots or more). We found out what it’s like to have to re-anchor at 5am because you’ve dragged 200 feet. We installed our new Dieball headsail and are giddily pleased with the ability to unfurl/furl it as we wish.
In short: we’re figuring things out, slowly but surely. About ourselves, about our boat, and about our future.
"Throw off the bowlines…Explore, Dream, Discover" – Twain
