2/14/25 - Pre-Departure Ramblings
We leave tomorrow. Our dingy is leaking, despite Steve’s numerous attempts to fix it. He is going to try one more unconventional idea today. If that doesn’t work, we’ll need to suck it up and buy another one (BOAT = “Bring Out Another Thousand”) when we arrive in Ft. Pierce, FL after we drop off our delivery captain, Jeremy. He will arrive at our boat at about 1AM tomorrow morning. We’ll cast off after everyone attempts to get a good night’s sleep. Steve and I haven’t slept well in a few weeks.
Our water pump goes off every few minutes, which means there is a small leak in our water pipes/tank (somewhere). We believe it is a small leak, but nevertheless the mental toll it takes when the loud whirring noise goes off every few minutes is a morale killer. An irregular but frequent loud reminder that something is wrong with our water supply. Our water supply.
So why haven’t we addressed these important things yet? We have been but diagnosing the problem, ordering parts and obtaining the parts can take a while. And we’ve been too busy working on other projects that are also important. In this moment, I don’t remember what they all are, but I can tell you that we have been busy. We were supposed to leave weeks ago so I thought we would have all of this time to relax and enjoy each other, get into our routines. And we have gotten into routines. Sid and I wake up first. We do Worldle and a bunch of the other NYT games together. Then I make tea (tea= home) for whomever wants it. Steve starts work. I make breakfast, which typically involves moving around a lot of items (to get into the storage bench, to get to the milk, etc.) I’ve gotten used to it, but suffice to say that pouring a simple bowl of cereal is a lot more involved than it is in a house. Eventually Addie wakes up and the kids and I (sometimes Steve) watch CNN10, a daily news channel for kids. After that, Sid goes back to his schoolwork and Addie starts her math work with Steve while I attend to whatever else needs to be done (meal planning/inventorying food, planning homeschool lessons, paying bills, making phone calls to tie up loose ends, working at my actual job, etc.) then I homeschool with Addie until we’re done for the day. Somewhere in there, we make lunch and before I know it, it’s dinnertime (yup…very involved). After Steve is done with his work hours, he works on whatever boat project seems the most urgent. There is a mountain of dishes when we’re done for the day. Occasionally, we’ll go to the indoor pool at the community center or drive into New Bern for errands or dinner, but most of our time is consumed by boat projects—equal parts expected projects and unexpected projects—there is a LOT to do. Always.
But…we leave tomorrow. Actually leave this dock. Layla hasn’t moved from this dock since the four of us took her out for a 3-hour token spin back in July. Even though our engine was fixed quite a few weeks ago now, the weather and our schedules haven’t been conducive to a trip out. We had plans to sail with a couple we had met this past summer a few weeks ago, but the weather forecast changed overnight and the wind was gusting pretty hard so we ultimately decided against it (one of the dockhands later confirmed that he would have stayed in as well, which made me feel better).
So how is everyone feeling at this moment? So many feelings. Truthfully, our proverbial buckets are running quite low at the moment. We’re all ready to start moving. To stop preparing for the trip and finally start the trip. That said, leaving the security of the dock is scary. Here we have water, laundry facilities, showers, help/guidance from friendly neighbors when we’re having an issue. Out there it will just be us. And truthfully, I’m still making rookie mistakes with the non-sailing stuff. I have a fair amount of anxiety over my lack of sailing experience. Yes, I have taken the classes, but those classes were years ago and the last time I sailed was for seven days this past summer and prior to that was 2022 (if you don’t count the small sailboat we had in St. Louis).
But…I am smart and I can learn. And I will learn. I’m going to pull out my sailing class books this morning and do some reviewing so at least the terms and concepts are fresh in my head. I’ve had this on my to do list for weeks. The next 5-7 days will likely be quite intense in a lot of different ways—learning, boat movements, emotions from all. My hope is that leaving itself will lift our spirits. I’m praying that we have a safe, speedy and uneventful journey.
At this point, though, Steve and I (and definitely the kids) are questioning the decision to take this adventure. Our goals are/were to spend more quality time together as a family, to explore new places and cultures, to learn new things (that is definitely happening). We are regularly measuring the reality of our situation against our stated goals. As Steve pointed out, we are trying to straddle two worlds—our normal world in St. Louis and the boat world. Steve and I are both still clinging to part-time jobs, to health insurance. Many of the people we have met are not working, however they have creatively made that happen. We continually are having conversations about how we could adjust what we’re doing to make this lifestyle work better. That said, I don’t think we’ll be out here for years. I have many thoughts and emotions about this being a short-lived experience but one clear message it gives me is “this time will be short…try to enjoy it while you can.”
I’m rambling. Using a lot of words to say that this is really hard right now. I think back to the many—the vast majority— of people who responded to our adventure plans with “Wow! That will be such (!) a great experience for your kids!” That gives me comfort. My hope is that it WILL (!) ultimately be a great experience for all of us and that what we’re experiencing now are just bumps in the beginning of our journey. Fingers crossed. The dinghy problem will eventually be solved one way or another. The water pump issue will be solved or we will deal with it one way or another.
Onwards.
Time to find a place for all of the groceries we bought last night. And drive to the Chevy dealership to sell my car. **Gulp**
And review the basics of how to sail a boat. Holy cow….this is real.