What about that boat baby?

We are putting in some serious time in our big push to get many items ticked off our list  and to get the boat ready to sail before late August. Why late August? That is when the temperatures become absolutely unbearable. There is about a 2-3 week window just before September when the temperatures go nuts just before they return to a sane 90 Fahrenheit or so. We work in the early morning until about lunch time, when we knock off until after 3 when things cool down a bit and then we are back at it until dinner sometimes around 7:30 or so.

My friend Cindy asked me what Kitty was up to while we are putting in the sweat equity. Well, since you asked...

Kitty goes with us everywhere. She has several jobs she takes very seriously. The first is to be the resident Dock Star. Nobody walks by without a hello from her and a lightening fast barrage of questions ranging from "are you working on a project?" to "what is your boat name?" to "do you like cotton candy?" to "who is your favorite My Little Pony" and everything in between.

Kitty manages to squeeze in a work out every day. This is because there is rigging on the boom which is just the perfect height to work on chin ups and inversions.

When we head back to the workshop to work on projects, Kitty is right beside us ready to work on her own. She is a little annoyed that she has to share our tools as she wants her own "sparkle pink" tools and could she PLEASE get her own drill, a real one.

Our evenings are spent taking her for a swim, or a walk or just watching her perform her latest song and dance routine. She seems to take it all in stride. Mainly because she is absolutely part of the action. Every time her dad declares a project complete she asks the same question "are we going sailing now?" Soon sweet Kitty. Very, very soon.

The Hard Stuff

Kitty fell fast asleep on the couch while pouring over her memory book from school. I think we will be laminating every single page of projects and photos of her and her little classmates and finding a place for it on the boat.

I am standing in a hallway, listening to little people's voices bubbling up with excitement. They are singing and their little voices ring with the crystalline purity of childhood. I glance at the wall to a smattering of crayon colored paper ephemera crafted by tiny hands. My eyes begin to become a bit misty.

I pop my head in the doorway and tell Kitty it is time to go. She grabs her back pack, waves to her friends and bounds out to give me a hug. She is shadowed by the most angelic little girl with long blonde hair and enormously big eyes who stops Kitty and gives her a tight , tight hug. "I will really miss you Kitty" Whitney says in a solemn tone. Kitty knew this day was coming and I think it hit her at this moment. Kitty usually is one to hug her best school friend with wild abandon, this time she was stiff and still. This is when I begin to actually cry.

Kitty has had an absolutely magical year at preschool. She has been fortunate to have good friends and a wonderful, loving teacher, Miss Suzanne that she adores. A teacher who gets who Kitty is as a person and embraces her and all her quirks unabashedly. Kitty has had the gift of friendship, laughter and lots of love. I knew it would be hard as everyone else was promising to see each other next year knowing that for Kitty, this would be a final good bye.

Kitty knows we are moving on the boat and going sailing but she has no reference point for what this means. She sees us packing up boxes, selling off the extras and she knows that things will change. While she is looking forward to having a bit of an adventure, I can tell she is having a tough time letting go. I can tell this by her insistence that our boat does in fact have room for Miss Suzanne to come too. And Whitney, Sydney, Emmalyn, Grayson,Sam, Cason and there just has to be room for Temisan as well. My heart hurts for her. Goodbyes are the worst.

It's a bit easier for Maura. To be sure, she is nervous about leaving but its much easier for a techno savvy teen to keep in contact with friends via texting, email, Instagram, etc. For a little person who only knows how to read and write her first name, its a bit tougher.

So as Kitty's school time comes to an end and we get ready for the REALLY difficult goodbye to her little tribe of friends on our street, I am full of resolve. I am resolved to get this boat done and get going because to have made her make this sacrifice without a payoff and a payoff SOON is just too tough to take. There will be other friendships made Kitty. And magical experiences and discovering new places and laughing and singing too. But there will be hard things as well and I think maybe, goodbye is the hardest.

I wonder if Miss Suzanne would like to crew...

Rebel Heart is not just a news item

By now everyone who is not living in a caveh as heard the news of the rescue mission to save the crew of the Rebel Heart. Armchair admirals are weighing in on the "mistakes" made by the crew. People who have never even seen a sailboat, let alone sailed have their pitchforks and torches out with screams of irresponsible parenting and demands for retribution for the crew in the form of a bill or an investigation from CPS. THEY MUST PAY!!!

For me, this is not an interesting news item to discuss in hushed whispers at the local coffee clatch. This is the story of my dear friend Charlotte and her beloved family who have been through a horrifying ordeal while I sit thousands of miles away unable to do anything but think of them constantly, await word...and pray.

People who have heard the news clips and know we are set to leave the dock worry about us. They wonder why we would undertake such a dangerous thing as sailing the seas with our children. As I sit with the realization that my friend has been dealing with the fright of a seriously ill baby and then tragically, has lost the only home she has known for years I can understand the worry but the truth is, many many more families are out sailing with no major issues.

To be sure, every time a friend has a big passage, I worry a little too. Not overly much, but sailors are very aware of the risks involved and also that no matter how carefully you prepare sometimes bad things happen.

 When Tucker and Victoria were on their passage to the Marquesas, my friend Cindy and I would check their progress and be gladdened at every uneventful day. We did the same when Diane and Evan were crossing and when they dropped a rudder, we reassured each other it would be okay- and it was. We watch carefully everytime Behan and Jamie and their kids make another big passage. Thankfully, for the most part it becomes routine. How'd the weather look for them? Good. Any update? Crew happy and healthy? Good. This is what sailing families do. They cross oceans. With kids. And their friends watch from afar and cheer enthusiastically as the share the glorious first photos of landfall, with the kids joyfully discovering the beauties and mysteries of each new port. This is the norm. A little bit of worry, a little bit of cheering as the crews deal with set backs and a huge celebration when the safely pull into port. Watching from afar, helpless to do anything but pray as a boat full of people you truly care about are in harm's way is NOT the norm. It is such an unusual occurrence that there are no helpful books written on how to handle it when your friends have a real crisis. There is also no helpful book telling you how to cope when ignorant and ill informed people paint your friend as evil incarnate as loudly as possible and as in their face as they can get all because they hit the unlucky lottery.

I am trying to remain positive. Its tough when all I want is to hear from Charlotte to know that they are all okay. No need to tell me what happened or why or what you would do differently. Just tell me you are okay and I will tell you how much I love, admire and respect you and offer you support, a smile and encouragement to do what ever you need to do to heal.

Then and only then, can I go back to watching only slightly nervously as another one of our sailing tribe gets ready to make what will most likely turn out to be a very boring passage. Then I can go back to planning out our routing for the fall, ordering up the deck hardware we need to finish the deck layout and choosing our final bits of gear and getting ready to leave. THAT is positive. I am shaken to the core by what my friends have endured but I know that it really is a 1 in 1,000 event.

I am choosing to not react in anger to the ignorance and hate I am seeing thrown around. If anything, its serving as a motivation to get my kids as far away from truly ugly people who would see someone in crisis and make a choice to spew anger, hatred and vitriol all out of complete ignorance. Instead of listening to those who are unenlightened, I choose to surround myself with fellow sailors who understand that the risks are greatly outweighed by the rewards of living a life outside the suburban box. People who understand that life is not measured by breaths but by the moments that take our breath away. Such joy that is ours, they can never comprehend.

In a show of solidarity and love for our fellow sailors on Rebel Heart, I made the video below. I was aided in making this video by a few hundred sailing mamas who shared photos of their children. On boats. Sailing the seas. Discovering the beauty that lies hidden in the world. With their children. They understand. They are my people.

Please Continue To Hold...

Boats in the marina...waiting.

We are deep in the middle of waiting. As Robert Heinlein said in 'Stranger in a Strange Land, "Waiting is...until fullness". Very apt for the state of things in and around Ceol Mor. We are most definitely strangers in a strange land. Living life with one foot firmly planted in the day to day of living ashore in the suburbs with work and school and kids activities and running a household and one foot out the door into the world of sailing (vagabonding!) around , seeing the world outside our little corner of the planet. I am not going to sugar coat it. Waiting is hard.

We had a bit of a stroke of luck last year. Mark's work load was fairly light so he was able to really put a bunch of time into getting our boat ready. This year his work load has increased to a level that is beyond full, requiring him to travel quite a bit, to work on brain taxing technical problems and to try to squeeze in a bit of boat work as well. The work relationship is a necessary one. They need the work done and since we have not won the lottery we need the funds to stockpile to pay our living expenses while we go gallivanting. It works out to a good if decideldy codependent relationship. I know that his short temper these days has more to do with trying to fit everything in with very little rest than anything we are or are not doing. I also know that this too shall pass. But its hard. Hard to know the answer is to get out sailing where Mark visibly relaxes and a calmness overtakes him and to know that the answer is still 12 months away.

Then there are the little things that are hard. Little things like my car. My car is okay but really way too small for my day to day life with a toddler in tow and a preteen as well. We really could use something that offered us the flexibility of hauling kids and/or boat refit supplies and equipment. We looked long and hard at the used car market and no matter how we crunched the numbers, to get something in decent shape would require us to take a $2500-$3000 hit over the course of 12 months. How many months of cruising would that $3,000 buy us? Almost 2 on our projected budget. Do we want to give up that time in exchange for a bit more comfort and convenience for only 12 months? No, keep your eye on the prize but as I load up the car for another day it does annoy me.

A really hard thing was giving up a long time dream of my own. I had a great career in folk music and felt like I had reached all of my goals save one- I always wanted to do children's music. Some might not get it because its not cool or hip, but I have always wanted to perform for children. When I heard that my absolute favorite of all time children's music group The Singing Kettle was searching for a new cast member, I sent in my resume, some past recordings and a short video. I thought it was a pipe dream and did not expect anything. Then they came back announcing I had made the short list and would I send in a another video? I sent it in and then Mark and I sat down and crunched numbers and logistics of moving the family and boat to Scotland, changing our sailing plans and all the changes and sacrifices that chasing this weird little dream of mine would entail.

As we waited to hear back, I came to the conclusion that the sacrifices we have made for the past 3 years would have been wasted if I were to take the position. I quite tearfully made the determination that choosing to chase the dream of cruising meant foregoing other dreams and goals. I knew I had to withdraw my name should I be invited to Scotland. It was a bit of good fortune actually, that in the end choosing a Texan for a Scottish children's group did not fit in with the Singing Kettle's needs and I did not have to write that painful letter withdrawing my name. Knowing that I had to forgo other dreams was very hard. Its not one I will be able to revisit so it really is choosing one longed for experience over another. Hard indeed.

The kids are finding waiting hard as well. Not so much Kitty, whose only real sacrifice is a backyard climbing frame/slide of her own (and man oh man would she love it) but Maura has had to give up opportunities and things in order for us to do this. We live in the epicenter of suburban/American consumerism and in order to make cruising work, we have to make different choices than our neighbors and while on the surface it might seem superficial and inconsequential, if you are 12 years old and are the only kid around not following the prescribed formula it is hard. No iPhone, they are too expensive and you won't be able to use it in a year. No competitive dance or sports because you will be leaving in a year and those require a 3 year commitment. Amassing a junior high school worthy wardrobe? You'll just have to get rid of most of it in a year and when will you wear those trendy jeans with all the gelcoat scarring studs on the boat? Other coveted gadgets and items are just more things to soak up the finances and must be gotten rid of in the name of available storage space. Maura desperately wants a sailing dinghy of her own but we don't have time to get good use out of it before we leave and where would we store it on the boat? Birthdays and Christmas are small, both for financial reasons and storage space considerations. Certainly not life or death choices but if you are 12 and giving up all of the things your friends enjoy for an unknown experience, it is hard.

So, I continue to wait. Waiting for the payoff for which we have all sacrificed. I do not begrudge those who are able to just buy a boat, step aboard and take off. I am happy that life happened in such a way to allow them to skip the waiting because some times, waiting really sucks. And blows. Simultaneously .Our life has not happened in such a way for that to be the case. We've had to sacrifice, work and wait. While the waiting can get me down, I know that no one will be more excited to finally cast off the dock lines than we. I know that all this annoying and at times maddening craziness will result in an adventure many others will never get the chance to experience and for that, I am extremely grateful. So we shall keep on keeping on and until we finally cast off our ties to land I will try to remember "Waiting is...until fullness."

We got this....

We finally loaded everything into the boat, checked the weather and headed out for a quick sail to Redfish Island where we planned to anchor for the night. We made decent enough time even though we were under canvassed. Our thought was that this first day was more about getting the kids comfortable on the boat, seeing how our anchor bridle worked for us and what we thought about the new lighting and fans than about trimming the sails spectacularly and clipping along at a nice speed.

Sunset at Redfish Island

Redfish Island is not actually an island at all as Maura discovered to her utter disappointment. Visions of frolicking on a lovely beach, splashing in the surf were quickly put away as we made our approach. (from the NW for those taking notes, the S end is very, very VERY shallow) "That's it?!?! Its just a bunch of dirt and rocks." she said as we entered the anchorage. Yes, its just a bunch of remnants from the channel dredging which makes a nice little sheltered are so that the huge commercial ships do not run over you at night. Not being run over at night is a really good thing. We put out plenty of scope which thanks to Mark's super specific anchor marking technique was easy to count (it hurt me to write that.), got the bridle and snubber on without much fuss even though it started to rain as we came in. The rain cleared and Kitty danced and sang on deck. we had a lovely unburned dinner and Maura declared that she loved this. This was even better than camping and she really loves camping. We settled in, watched the stars from the open hatch above our v berth and thought, yes this is good.

During the night we had 2 little blips to disturb our rest. The rains came, necessitating that we close up the hatches. Fortunately, due to the fact that our boat now has more Caframo fans than any other boat on the planet, we were able to maintain a somewhat reasonable amount of comfort. Point to Mark for that one. The other blip? While Kitty is the happiest kid on the planet while sailing or playing at anchor she will not sleep on the boat. AT ALL. After the 3rd time of Kitty calling for me, me going in and comforting her and trying to get her back to sleep, Maura opted to bunk on the settee and I moved in to the girls bunk to try to get Kitty to sleep. It worked for about 15 minutes at a stretch. It was a very long, long night.

And then the rains came. Good thing Maura loves to read.

The next morning we took our time getting breakfast, tidying the boat, more deck dancing until the rains came. Then it was time to hang out on the boat, coloring, reading, playing with Legos until the weather cleared. Once we had blue skies again, we hoisted the anchor and set sail for Galveston. We were on a beam reach and as we approached Galveston, the dolphins made their first appearance. Maura was at the helm as 2 big dolphins came within 3 feet of the boat to check us out. "MOM! MOM! LOOK!" Maura exclaimed. The smile on her face was absolutely magical. I still get excited by the appearance of dolphins and I love that the girls share my joy at the beauty of these creatures. We taught Kitty how to squeak at the dolphins and now every sighting means we get an excited stream of joyful exclamations punctuated by toddler dolphin squeaks.

Beauty is where you find it. Industrialized busy port not beautiful to you? Look up...

The area just as you come into Galveston is known as Bolivar roads. It would be better to be called Bolivar sphincter check. Bolivar roads is where the Houston ship channel crosses the ICW and oh, there are a few other various channels full of commercial ships following other channels here and there. You've got lots of really HUGE container ships, barges, pilot boats, fishing trawlers, a cruise ship or two, Coast Guard cutters and skiffs and ferries running to and fro, this way and that and one little sailboat with a squall approaching, sails up because Mark did not heed my warning that the rain was going to hit us and there were too many huge ships going in every which way to sail elegantly into Galveston. As I manned the helm trying to keep clear of impending doom, Mark and Maura finally struggled to get the sails down in the rain. Mark later admitted that he would never again ignore my request to drop the sails if I was feeling nervous. That I think is a very important lesson learned. Always defer to the Biggest Chicken Baby on board. Kitty sat with me in the cockpit shouting "LOOK! Pirate ship!" at every tanker that passed. Who knew my 2 year old was up on current Somali events?

We headed into the same anchorage by the Bolivar ferry we used last year. This year, there are work barges moored in a large portion of the anchorage. Seems they are reconstructing a jetty near the ferry landing. Fortunately, we were the only boat there so we had plenty of swing room.

At this point, Maura was ready for a bit of land adventuring so we inflated the dinghy and headed for shore. Since we are trying to wait until the last minute to buy our dinghy (one less thing to maintain until we are ready to use it) we used the small inflatable given to us by a friend. Imagine my surprise to see that the dinghy Mark intended to use was a 6 foot rubber Achilles which the previous owner had christened 'Stinky'. We were rowed ashore in 2 trips by Mark in a bright red inflatable with STINKY emblazoned upon it. We tied the dinghy up but didn't lock it because A: we were not at a dinghy dock, we were docked in a super secret not Kosher location that the security guard said so long as we went to dinner then right back, she would look the other way and B: who the hell is going to steal a little rubber rowing dinghy which is emblazoned with STINKY on it? A friendly power boat captain gave us a ride to the nearest restaurant ; Chili's where we ate an unremarkable dinner as you do at Chili's, then made the trek on foot back to the boat where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, lots of rolling due to passing commercial traffic and another night where Kitty refused to sleep. Even still, it was a good night and everyone was in great spirits.

Early morning. Birds overhead as the rain clouds rolled in...

The next morning, absolute crap weather rolled in. Bad visibility and rain, rain and more rain. This was supposed to be our first time to take Ceol Mor out into the Gulf but I nixed that idea. I just don't feel the need to prove anything and while we absolutely could have handled what was out there (just a lot of rain and low clouds, no scary wind) it would have been less than fun. As it is, Mark will still be able to tell people his dream is to get out of Galveston for a while longer. We headed back to Kemah escorted by a tremendous amount of dolphin pods every where we looked. Maura and I got good experience helming the boat in busy shipping lanes and Mark learned to relax a bit when he is off watch. Very good things to have a bit of confidence in.

 We made it back to the marina and as we approached the slip, the rain stopped and the skies returned to blue. We might not have gotten the ocean experience we were hoping for, but we did learn a lot of useful things. We have a better idea of what we want on the boat, what changes we are glad we made and what is now at the top of the refit list (separate short post coming up on this).We gained confidence in anchoring. We got a bit better at trimming the sails. We learned a bit more about how to handle 4 distinct BIG personalities in a small space. The most important thing I learned? We can do this. We really can.

London calling...

We decided that is was high time for us to get little Kitty over to her Granny in Scotland.  Kitty’s 2 year old birthday is quickly approaching and sometime between 2 and 3, babies miraculously become little kids and I didn’t want Granny to never get to experience Baby Kitty. We booked the trip in February when everything is dirt cheap because who the heck wants to vacation in the North Atlantic in February? Unfortunately, Maura had to stay behind because she has chosen to go to public school and they are very persnickety about students not taking time off unless they are dying. I suppose it’s a good life lesson- choosing one option will preclude other options but that doesn’t have to be bad thing. So we waved goodbye to Maura and promised to call my parents who are ‘house sitting’ for us because Maura is far too old and worldly to need a baby sitter. ;) Fortunately. Maura owns neither any Bob Seger albums of white tube socks so we should be ok. Toddler in tow we were off….

I have suffered horrible flying anxiety for years. I’ve flown quite a bit and it has just gotten worse with every trip. It is so bad that in order to satisfy my wanderlust and avoid flying whenever possible, I bought a boat. Yeah. It really is that bad. I’ve tried self help courses, facing my fears by flying in ultralights, self hypnosis, hypnosis, visualization, breathing, mantras etc. Nothing has worked. I’ve still flown because I do not want my life to be limited by fear but every flight has been a terrifying experience for me. Not this time. This time I opted to get a prescription from my doc for Xanax. Apparently .50mg was all that was standing  between me and having a normal travel experience. I know, I know its masking my fear and not allowing me to deal with it but I have dealt with it and it has sucked. I am not a martyr, I will never fly without it. I was almost like a normal person.

Kitty was fantastic on the flight. Just happy as can be other than a 5 minute crying episode when she was over tired and having a hard time getting to sleep and then another 2-3 minute complaint as we descended and her ears started hurting her. Other wise, she was just a delightful , friendly little person. Telling everyone “hi” on the plane and asking the flight crew “what you doing?” with such a sweet inquistive smile they could not help but be charmed. Thanks Kitty, we owe you one.

We shook off our jet lag in a Starbuck's in Waterloo Station - that's a sign of civility right there. They even accepted my US Starbuck's card. No money exchanged yet, no problem!

Checked into our hotel and opted for a nap as Kitty was quickly approaching critical mass. She's still working on the jet lag and its definitely effecting what we can do but we are rolling with it.

You would think any hotel in London would have great wifi. WRONG! We have absolutely craptacular wifi here so the photos will have to wait a few days until we are in Edinburgh and hopefully we have decent wifi there. Until then, just keep an eyeball on this post as someday photos will magically appear. :)

Road tripping

  I made a last minute decision to head to Annapolis, Maryland to ostensibly see the big boat show but really I wanted to see some friends. When my great parents said that keeping the big girl so she didn't miss school would be no issue, I started loading up the car. Kitty and I would make it a road trip of almost 3,000 miles round trip. Mark was supposed to fly in to meet us but work prevented him from coming so it was just me and my wee co-pilot for 9 days.

The drive would normally be accomplished by me in a straight shot of 24 hours but since Kitty can handle around 550 miles a day before she howls in protest, it took us quite a bit longer. Kitty became adept at checking into hotels, meeting new people and going with the flow. I became adept at eating at nothing but Cracker Barrels on the road. When you have a kid who can't eat gluten and is picky, CB is your friend. She happily ate green beans, mashed potatos, carrot and a little bit of chicken every. single. meal. I didn't even eat one single burger as my ordering was limited to what I could split with my tiny, fussy eater. They also have lots of sparkly, shiny kitsch to look at, which toddlers find highly entertaining.

All in all, it was a great trip. We saw friends from Majestic and Patience Two who are all wonderful, wonderful people and very dear friends.  We met friends from Anything Sailing, SV Wildest Dream and the Puzzled gang.We hung out on their respective catamarans and got to experience agoraphobia. We went to the boat show and saw the equipment we needed to see in about 30 minutes (thank goodness. I never need to go to another boat show ever). We saw the leaves changing. We had such a wonderful time, just me and my wee one. Being able to spend time with just my little girl was a gift. She and I have never had such a long time alone. It made me fall in love with her all over again. We came home to Maura and Mark, having missed them terribly and hugged them and just drank them in. It was perfect.

We didn't have time for a sail but managed to go for a chug on Patience Two on the Magothy river. I could learn to love catamarans

Kitty's favorite thing to do is wave and say "hi" to everyone. People in restaurants, hotel lobbys, rest areas and cars driving by.

Kitty wanted to run with the big kids from RV Puzzled, Zach Aboard and Tig and Serena.

I am 100% over boat shows. Just too crowded for my tastes.

Mary from Patience Two

made this, which is the coolest stack pack ever. Not only is is purple(win!) but the super cool waves are made from phirtex so any water drains. You will not be seeing anything similar on Ceol Mor unless I can bribe Mary into making us one...

Chuck and Mary of Patience Two's back yard view. Kitty and I stayed with them for a few days and got to wake up to this view....

Not a brilliant shot cause we were driving at a good clip but that is a cockatoo behind that wind screen. that big burly biker kept tucking his head under the screen to nuzzle the bird. Awesome.

                                                 Eventually, my wee girl did actually sleep.

Harness and Tether STAT!

Kitty is what we like to call a "full tilt toddler". At 14 months she has but one speed and that speed is go. Unlike Maura who was an early fan of reading, daydreaming and chillaxin, Kitty is an explorer and adventurer at heart. This is a great quality to have as an adult but is a challenge when she is too small to really understand that gravity is always on and sometimes things can get pretty hairy very quickly on a boat.

Kitty is a climber. If it is there, it must be climbed. Companionway, chairs, cockpit coamings or cabin top if it provides a toe hold, she will climb it. She is also scarily quick. Due to this and the fact that sometimes both of us have to get our hands dirty on a project, we made an emergency run to West Marine. Not my favorite place to shop but they had a child sized sailing harness and tether in stock and we needed them NOW. Oh and we got to oogle the Dyneema lines we will have on our boat. Eventually.

Our life line netting is on its way from Fisheries Supply but when it comes to keeping kiddos safe on the boat, I prefer to have redundancy. Also, with temperatures regularly just shy of 100 Farenheit asking Kitty to lounge around dockside in a PFD is just cruel. Seriously, would you want to wear a parka in the subtropics in the height of summer?

And so it was that we found ourselves procuring a harness and tether for Crash. She's happy enough to wear it in the cockpit because she can just peek over the coamings well enough to see what we are doing. We've still got to install padeyes and jacklines, but this is workable for now. She is not a big fan of wearing it below (when we need to keep her safely away from power tools) but she'll adapt. I can now breathe a little easier knowing she is safer although I do miss the days when she hadn't figured out how to climb the cockpit. So happy she is learning and growing, just wish we were a bit further along in the refit before she mastered vaulting out of the cockpit or scampering up the companionway.

*post script * My friend Gina is one of my most favorite people in all the world. We have been friends for many years. We were friends back in the day when our youthful eyes could easily read white text on a black background. We are still friends although our eyes are no longer so youthful. Due to the fact that I do not want to permanently "burn the white text into her retinas" any longer, I've changed the font to an easy on elderly eyes grey. If for some reason this new color doesn't work for you all, let me know and I will consider other options.

Rock Star Moment

For many years, I made my living as a musician. Not in some hipper than thou angsty rock band, but in an odd, very specific subgenre of music (think Lithuianian polka band.Not really, but Lithuianian polka band is funnier). Usually we would go from town to town, festival to festival and while those peeps who actually followed that type of music would know who we are, we could stop at a local Denny's, order a Grand Slam and clean out the toys in the claw machine without ever being "recognized". Every once in a great while, someone in say- Hayti, Mo. would be a displaced follower of Lithuianian polka music and would recognize us and we would get approx. 5 minutes of "fan time". We called these moments, Rock Star Moments. I had my first blog Rock Star Moment.

Yesterday morning I was sitting in Starbucks enjoying their free and very fast WIFI. While I was pulling up the blog to do a bit of admin stuff, a gentleman behind me piped up. "You read Ceol Mor too?" He pronounced it as Seal Mor so I knew he wasn't a displaced Scot. "Actually, I write it" I replied. I'm kind of surprised that anyone other than my Mom reads this but Jim is retired so I suppose he has some free time to read and I did once mention Kemah in a post, which is how he found us.

As it turns out, the gentleman's name was Jim. He reads lots of blogs about cruising, boats getting ready to cruise and most especially boats getting ready to cruise with little kids. See, Jim and his late wife cruised with their children through out the Carribean, South America, the US and Europe in the late 1970's.

Jim said that reading about our getting the boat ready while trying to ensure these kids have a childhood and while having our original time frame slip away from weeks to years was so familiar to him. He hand his wife had purchased a 32 foot boat in order to go cruising with their 2 boys, aged 3 and 5. As it turned out, they did go cruising on a 32 foot boat but with their 3 boys- aged 18 months, 7 and 9. Sound familiar? Jim had what might be my favorite quote of the year about cruising. "Cruising is the most fun you will ever have with your family while being absolutely miserable". I admit that hearing him describe cruising for a few years on a 32 foot boat with 3 young boys made me feel like a real whiner about our boat. Never have I been more grateful for 10 feet!

So thanks for the words of enocouragement Jim. Thanks for letting me know that al 3 of your boys have grown into responsible adults despite being vagabonds for a few years and missing out on the public school experience. Thanks for reassuring me that all of this frustration and hard work will indeed be worth it. I look forward to being absolutely miserable all over the world.