It's interesting especially now with the Christmas season upon us to be thinking about living the boat. I look around all the Christmas decorations, including the trees and realize, "Oh, we won't be able to have that on the boat." We'll have our stockings, of course (my mom made all five of our stockings!), plus the Advent calendar (also made by my mom--have I mentioned she is incredibly crafty? I wish I had half her talent and patience)...
to bring on board as decorations, but I think any other decorations will require us being creative. Everything else in the Christmas boxes is fragile, special, and frankly, too much of a one-time only thing to be allowed to take up valuable space.
I've begun to be rather excited thinking about this completely new life. I know full well it's going to be a major adjustment. I don't have any allusions about it being this romantic life full of sunsets, cocktails and deserted coves--after all, we will be on this adventure with three children! But the idea of stepping out of the ordinary life fills a longing I've had for probably longer than I've even realized. I've always wanted to do something different from what I've believed was expected of me. The desire to travel has been around for a long time, but the idea of living on a boat and traveling that way never occurred to me until Joe started talking about it and trying to talk me into it.
One thing I've noticed when reading about other families who left dry land to go cruising is their experience with telling others about it. I read a book in which the authors said they usually only told the people whom they knew would be supportive because there were just too many people who basically told them they were crazy to even consider taking their kids away from a "normal life." I can't say I've experienced that. I don't know if it's because we live in Alaska and most of our friends have done things or are planning things that wouldn't necessarily be considered a "normal life." Heck, some people may argue that just living in Alaska is an escape from the norm! No, everyone Joe and I have talked to regarding our plans seems to be excited for us. Even if they do think we're nuts, it's usually just because they're not into the idea of long-term boat travel and they have some other grandiose dream they are working on! Or maybe more people do think we're nuts--they're just keeping their mouths shut about it!
In a way, this is still a little surreal to me since I haven't personally seen Kyrie yet. Joe keeps finding videos online of various Prouts under sail and showing them to me and the kids. I'm glad to see the big two are getting excited about this. I'm not totally sure Rachael understands what this means. She doesn't remember moving to Juneau from Anchorage, and Juneau is all she knows. But ready or not, the time to leave is coming up soon. Although we don't have plane reservations yet, the target departure date is probably around the second week in January. There's still a lot to do, and an ever-shrinking amount of time in which to get it done!
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