Nothing’s Certain But Change

It’s funny, I’ve always been considered a “free spirit” by people who know me, but recently it’s taken a whole new turn.  Not only am I like that, but my partner is too, and the way we live our life is considered “free spirited”.  Well, they’re not wrong, it is.  We never really know where we’re going to be next week, or what the next month will look like.  We can make a plan, but that doesn’t by any means reign true when the time comes.  It humbles us, keeps us on our toes, and keeps the adventures alive.  I think one of the things we’ve said to each other a thousand times since moving on the boat is “it’s fine, we’ll figure it out, as long as we’re together we’ll be okay”.  It’s always somewhere along those words that comfort is felt, love is shown, safety is proved.  We’re each other’s constant.

We’ve found that the people we can count on are also those safe places, the constant supporters in this life, the ones who show they care.  We’ve experienced a lot of that recently, between the forestay breaking and our plans changing up, there are people who’ve stayed constant.  Family is one of the biggest, and then the people that have quickly become family along our journeys.

For the last week we’ve been in Arizona with Steve’s parents, sister, brother, sister in law, and nephew.  We’ve had a place to rest, people to laugh with, a baby to love on.  Next week we will be with my parents, and it’ll be yet another replenishing visit of our spirits.  Living life without a set plan can be challenging, especially since Steve and I are definitely planners.  We like to have an idea of what’s going on and where we’ll be next week, etc.  However, that rarely ever happens.  Plans change constantly, for whatever reason.  So having this family base, this incredible support system, that is a blessing and more for us.  Being away from home always makes you feel a little out of place, but having places that feel like home when you’re nowhere near it is so lovely.  We don’t know what we’d do without those places or those people.

When our stay broke and things felt flipped upside down, we immediately had a group of people offering their hand, car, contacts, help, and anything they could think of to help us with our problems.  Our friends from Urbanna and Norfolk went from friends to family within minutes.  That will be something we will always be grateful for.  A few blogs ago I posted about the people we’ve met, liveaboards we’ve gotten to know, sailors.  Those people will be some of the highest in my book because of their willingness to be there, to help, to care.  

So, for the record, we are forever thankful for the family and the friends that became family for their love and comfort, laughs and jokes, and everything in between.

We’ve found out that the boat will not be fixed by the time we return, as the rigger has a 60 day backup of work.  So, when we get home from our road trip, the plan is to motor back to our home marina and do it all ourselves.  It’s going to be a lot of work, and Steve is going to be exhausted with work and boat work, but we have so much more support and resources there so it’s doable.  This, my friends, is where having that support system is SO important.  Plus, we have to get hauled out there in October anyway, so it won’t hurt to be there a bit sooner.  Per usual, plans are changing again, and they’ll probably change between now and next week also.  But hey, that’s life – nothing is certain but change.