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Published: June 27th 2010
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After a long refit in Camden Maine, we were anxious to get back onto the water. Living on land is always different. Living in the US is always different in good and bad ways to us. We enjoy the ease of picking up our cell phone to call friends and family. We enjoy the ease of fast internet and the simplicities of large groceries and cars that bring our supplies directly to our apartment down smooth roads and straight into a large fridge where we don't worry if it works or not. Usually people follow the rules of the road (unless when driving in Southern Florida) and we are not awakened by weather usually, or alarms in the night telling us that there is a gas leak from a sensor that does not even exist (yes we have had that issue due to a bad sensor) If it is cold, we turn on heat, if it is hot, we have an air-conditioned space to work. If we don't want to cook, we can find food nearby. We enjoy all of this. It is easy. What we are not used to is the constant fear in our media. I forgot about that
and I know for most of my life it was "normal". I guess I didn't realize how much we are constantly told about crime, threats to our water, environment, lead in toys, what to do if there you leave a shopping mall by yourself, if an unmarked car tries to get you to pull over, if the police aren't the police, getting your identity stolen... how much you need insurance and how you shouldn't trust others.... blah blah blah.. It is in every news cast, every news paper and online when you go to check your mail. I see people not expecting the best from others and I see why. And I don't think we realize that we are doing it. It is good to be aware; however, it is interesting to see how much fear is pushed to us. I forgot. I also forgot how much we are disconnected from our environment. I am shocked that I don't know what phase the moon is in... what direction is the wind coming from? What time does the sun rise? I don't know anymore. Feels weird at first when I realized... then it feels normal. I guess.
Then it is
the "stuff"! Even if you have it, you find it so easy to get more! When watching tv, (which we didn't have) it was constant... buy buy buy! You need this or that and I found myself with those additional 2-3 items that I "had" to have before I checked out. Yes, I am a sucker, but geesh! The system is set up so perfectly for us to buy buy buy! And it is so easy! Just a swipe of a piece of plastic and it is all mine! oh boy! The news actually were reporting the shopping season and the best buys during the holiday shopping season! The News!! Forget everything else going on... it was all about buying and buying! Sure I know that it helps the economy, etc. but man... I wanted all sorts of things I didn't need! Things i didn't even know existed, but I didn't want to live without it now!
Sailing takes you away from that. It also takes you away from friends and family. Takes you away from birthdays and weddings and funerals and celebrations, but that is the way life is huh! When you have all the stuff.. the house,
the cars, the pool and the white picket fence... I see people who crave freedom and no debt and the idea of just heading to the horizon with only the journey to focus on. Then when we are out here chasing that horizon... you miss the comforts of a home and to be surrounded by people you love... surrounded by a place that is stable and comforting. The grass is always greener huh. 😊
On land, all I can think of is travel and adventure and when traveling and adventuring 😊 I find myself craving a spot on land. Near friends and family that are around for more than one week... they usually don't just sail away that often. Oh how to find a balance between the two. hmmmmm.... food for thought.
So here we are, sailing again. Enjoying the thrill of a red moon rising, the view of schools of blue flying fish dancing away from our hull... the excitement of a purple electrical storm and knowing that your survival is in your hands... with this boat, your own training and with this crew. We now know this boat more than ever after a long refit... she
is more than a boat. She is our shelter and our safety... she is our home with personality. Sometimes she is so happy, she literally will sail herself. We had her so balanced on our leg to the Bahamas, that I let go of the helm for over 5 minutes before I even needed to touch the wheel to make a slight adjustment. I told Cyrus to try it and he did it for so long he actually forgot he was steering! He laughed and said it felt like we were on autopilot... she was happily sailing herself. Like everyone's life, there is always the good and bad. The good is the amazing adventures I get to describe. The feeling of being self-sufficient... I love feeling closer to the natural world as it has a DIRECT affect on our lives. The bad?
I crave the sound of my niece and nephews laughing in the background of my sisters voice. I miss receiving the calls from my mother describing the current weather and having me listen to the rain over the phone. I miss hearing my dad every few days yelling in the background of a call saying "ASK
ME WHAT I AM COOKING!" I miss the "meaningless" conversations. The "just because" calls. The friend who sends a text after a pub crawl declaring her love for me. I love those little moments... and miss them here. There are many other moments that I cherish out here, but for me.. I think this is what I miss the most. I want my neighbor to raid my fridge when I am not home. I want to have a long meaningless conversation about how instant jello could be used as a face mask if you are dry (yeah... failed experiment...don't try it) Right now I am having wonderfully strange conversations with people who have such unusual life-styles.. such crazy amazing stories, that I adore curling up in bed at night and reviewing the odd stories.. odd characters that may or may not have been told to me in English. The conversations are very different and you absolutely have no idea of what they will say or do. People who have shed a "normal" lifestyle are all around me living unusual lives with very unusual stories. I meet these folks on land too... in Boston or Arkansas or from a friend who doesn't have the same filters as others... but here they are grouped together so in a single day you may hear of someone sailing into a cyclone for 4 days, surfing down 60 foot waves in his 32 foot boat he built himself... amazing he is alive, then a pirate attack where another found himself jumping naked overboard, catching the pirates attention and making the situation FAR worse for himself... the drone aircraft wing found at sea then hoisted onboard.. with it's unexploded ordinance on it .. all over a sunset beer. I do love this part of it.
Stories I hope to share. Hopefully some of my own will rival their stories. As we speak, I am listening to a German Electrical engineer speaking with Cyrus, waving at a boat full of our French chain-smoking, tarot-card-playing sailor friends as they head to the canal and off to the South Pacific.. and having the USA vs. Ghana World cup score yelled to us by a group of Costa Rican men varnishing a boat two slips over.... life is interesting. And I know I am glad to be here.
GO USA!
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