Thursday, February 25, 2010

the passing of time

I can scarcely believe I've let this blog fall into a lull for such a long time. Maybe starting it at this point was premature, but in the moment, it seemed like the thing to do. It was to be a way to move toward our goal of sailing abroad, but as things go, our lives have been pretty full with other things.
In the last year and a few months Josh graduated, accepted a job in Waukegan, we bought a condo on the north side of the city, bought a new car, took two vacations out of the country, lost a grandparent, and found out our chances of having a family of our own is slim at best. Needless to say it's been full of ups and downs, but at the end of the day we are well on our way to our dream of sailing around the world.
Josh has taken to crunching the numbers on our nest egg and will update me every few months on our progress, but as of now, we will be seeing the blue caribbean sea by mid to late 2012. It seems so very far away, but at the same time, way too close. We've both been boning up on what to expect, how to adapt, what to bring, and where to spend our years traveling the world.
We hit up the boat show last month and if not for our budget, we have found the boat we are in love with. However, since we are neither independently wealthy nor willing to break the bank to achieve our dream, we have set our sights on an Island Packet somewhere in the 35 foot range. Hopefully we will be able to find a sound bargain on a model from the late 80s or early 90s, but these boats tend to hold their value better than other ones we've seen out there. Wish us luck! Ideally we'd like to buy the boat next year, outfit it and sail away as soon as possible, but depending on 1) where we find our dream boat and 2) how much work it needs, this may change. The biggest "if" in that ideal time frame is where we buy the boat. We've been discussing the possibility of purchasing a boat that has primarily seen Lake Michigan sailing, but with that comes some issues. The boat may require more effort to be sea worthy because of the amount of equipment it may or may not have had been outfitted with. If the previous owners spent more time sailing up and down the coast, the boat wouldn't have needed certain items (Josh could detail all this, but I only really know the broad strokes of what is necessary from an equipment standpoint) but if they regularly sailed to, say, Mackinaw, less outfitting may be needed. So, as per usual, it's still a bit of a waiting game for now, but the sweet sounds of freedom will soon be here.


Chitzen Itza, Mexico. November 2009


Family fun at Christmas. This is how we do it.


Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. January 2010


Berniece Simon 1929-2009 beloved grandma