"Our Story" Part I

July 18, 2012 Wednesday


This is a good time to enter "Our Story" while we are in port visiting family and friends....

Our story....the kids are gone, the dog is dead, the house is sold.

We are not unlike other people.  We finished college, went to work, married and raised a family.  As we became older things began to change.  The kids grew up and moved away.  Our family dog died.  We were living in a house far too big for two people that was filled with "stuff ".  Maintaining it was no longer giving us joy.  Our bodies were changing.  A few illnesses, aches and pains indicated that we were moving further along life's timeline.  We were at an age where we had become "high timers" in our workplaces, less attractive to employers in this economy.  One of us was laid off with a merger and the other was offered incentives to retire. 
We began to watch too much television in what was once our son's bedroom, now furnished with matching recliners and a 42 inch flat screen HD TV.  Not yet 60 years old we turned to each other and asked "what are we doing?"
We would like to be able to say that we became "live aboards" through careful planning and research, but that was not the case.  We returned home after a month in Florida.  The weather in Michigan was cold, wet, and gloomy.  I turned to Terry and said "get me out of here, let's sell the house!"  We assumed that this would take awhile with the depressed housing market.  During a serendipitous walk on the beach, the very day of my proclamation, Terry returned home with a buyer.  The house was sold in 48 hours.  From that day forward events leading up to our new lifestyle "snow balled".

We had been sailing as a couple for eighteen years, and the captain (Terry) for most of his life.  We had sailed and cruised most of Lake Michigan during those years.  Our times on the water had always been among our happiest.  Sailors always have dreams.  We often talked like others, "chucking it all and sailing away".  Like most, that is all they ever are, "dreams".  With the house sold we were at a "Fork in the Road".   We looked at each other and said "Let's buy a bigger boat and sail away.  We can do it!"  This was our opportunity to  "LIVE THE DREAM".  
 End Part I

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."  Yogi Berra

Planning the Lake Erie Transit