In the spirit of keeping it real around here, I’d like to say that I have nothing of substance to say right now. I just, right now, really want to share this:
That’s our route from this winter — from the tippy-top of Mexico right down to the tippy-bottom (‘tippy-bottom’? can I go with that??), and looking at it somehow puts everything into a very nice perspective for me. All those little red jumps, all the little red stops along the way… they all represent moments and ‘trials & tribulations’ that are slowly becoming stories & adventures to share.
Because honestly, it’s a funny thing sailing a small old boat with your newly-wedded husband. There are a lot of great moments, picture-perfect-postcard-moments… but this winter we also had a lot of projects and workyards and feeling stuckness to deal with too. And those hard parts — those dark crying moments that nobody wants to hear about — well, they won’t stop being a part of what this winter really was.
But — at the same time — it’s funny how time twists stories and gives them a nice rosy tint. How looking back at pictures of us wearing scarves in San Carlos as we busted it to get our boat in the water, I can actually smile a little nostalgic smile and laugh that we were there for seven weeks (like seriously?? how did we do that?!?), without any gut twisting or too much head shaking.
And so, dearest reader, the other piece that I want to say (even though apparently I had nothing of substance to say today… 😉 ) is that this whole 6-and-6 thing appears to really be working for us. Because honestly, at the end of this winter of sailing, there was nothing I wanted more than a comfy bed and moderate temperatures and some trashy TV and a house that wasn’t broken all the time. We were tired, a little worn out, and ready for a break. But now, after even only a couple months of our “Northern Lives”, I’m feeling the pull, the lure, the call of our little Brio-boat waiting for us, hoping that we’ll come back and take her sailing again.
As my dad has been fond of telling me my whole life, “everything in moderation, Leah” (imagine it with a bit of a Watson accent). So we get to enjoy a few more months of this, of living in this uber-comfortable world and soaking up as much family and friends time as we can, reveling in the novelty of making and saving money (ha!) and being a ‘contributing member of society’… and then before you know it, we’ll be feeling a little sad to leave the Great White North, and will be packing our bags to head South and start the sailing journey again.
And on that note, I’ll leave you with the other little summary piece from our winter that I am excited to share: the logbook of all our legs 🙂