One Year Later

Well, we've been on this blogging adventure for exactly one year! Our first post was on April 9, 2012 and about a week later we had our first post about our boat search. BOY have we come a long way in a year! To think about how much we didn't really know when we first looked at 'High Hopes' to what we know now with 'Zephyr'...it's incredible and definitely something to be quite proud of. 

As we mentioned in our first post, this dream of boat living didn't just spring up last year, no, we'd been dreaming about this life long before that. Our first boat we ever even looked at was called 'Abode', a 1980, immaculate, 41' Morgan Out-Island. All of Jill's family, Jill & Tim all trucked up to Cummaquid on Cape Cod on Labor Day weekend 2010, 10 days short of Tim & Jill's wedding, to take a cruise and check out 'Abode'. 

We look like naturals even in 2010! 

The day was truly glorious! Jill's Dad and the owner, Steve, an old Tug Captain and all around pirate-esque type of guy, got along famously, talking boats, teak work & the Navy. Since we were 10 days from getting married our heads were somewhere else, not to mention Jill was still in grad school and our life wasn't at a place to be buying a boat...but as you can see from the five-mile smiles on our faces - we were enamored, the dream was sparked. 

And now, here we are a little more than 2 years later, boat owners, full-time liveaboards, on the cusp of our first New England summer. We've dissected A LOT of our boat, learned so, so much, have so, so much still to learn but we also realize that if we hadn't just made this leap we'd never have known. Sometimes you just have take a leap of faith and trust that though it may at times (like when it's 3 degrees in Maine on a boat) seem like you made a mistake it's all part of the journey. It's all stories you can tell. 

Happy Family Aboard Our Very Own Boat Zephyr

Life surprises me sometimes at how fast it really does move. I can tend to live in a day-by-day mentality, focusing on the short-term and never realize just how far we've truly come. It's important to reflect back on the accomplishments, screw ups, missteps and successes and celebrate them all because that is the beauty of being alive. As trite as it sounds, life is short, real short, and I think we need to celebrate every second we can and continue to evolve, challenge ourselves and the status quo, soak up what makes us truly happy, revel in simplicity, constantly learn new things and yes, sail uncharted waters (with a chartplotter, of course)! 

"The best way to feel the ocean is dive right into the waves..."
I found this video recently and couldn't think of something more fitting for our life's path...

"I don't want to say, 'I wish, I want to say, DAMN, that was awesome!'"