Happy rainy Tuesday to everyone who is also experiencing summer storms, and to those of you who aren’t as well.
Today has been lovely, though a bit slow paced. After quite a busy few days, I’m happy to have a cool down today. I made it to the beach just long enough to go for a couple of swims and I got back inside before the rain hit. I contemplated staying out and just waiting until I got rained on- after all, it is only a minute walk back up to the apartment. I was actually rained on just last week on my beach walk, but I was a lot farther than one minute away at that time. Anyway, I was just happy to have some time by the ocean.
It’s always freeing to be there, hearing the waves crashing and the birds diving down to catch dinner. I’m not quite sure what it is, maybe the vastness of it all while simultaneously feeling small and local when you’re swimming in it. It makes me feel healed, strong, like nothing can make that moment bad. I love that feeling, which is part of a huge reason I love where we are in our lives right now – always close to the ocean, just a step away from being in the water or sailing on it. We’re lucky, that’s for sure.
Have you ever had one of those moments that you just knew? You just knew that you were right where you’re meant to be. Nothing needs to be better or worse, but things are just good? I felt that today. It’s not always constant, but it hits me every now and then just how good I’ve got it.
One time I felt that this week was today by the water, another when Steve was still sleeping and I came in for a hug before he woke up and we just snuggled there for a minute, and another when I got the chance to write for a different website.
The last one is some big news, and not many people know about it yet because it’s so new. A few weeks ago I found a post that my mom wrote on Open to Hope, a website helping others find comfort and community during their grief and loss journey. She wrote about my brother, Dakota, and his life and all of the ways he’d shaped our lives. When exploring the website, I found a “write for us” tab. So, I immediately thought “why not?” A week ago I received an email from the editor and he expressed that my writing was exactly what they were looking for at Open to Hope, especially since loss of a sibling isn’t always talked about on the scales that it should be. Excited and honored are huge understatements.
I am officially an author at Open to Hope, and I hope somewhere along the line my journey of grief and loss for Dakota, and so many others whose lives have impacted mine, will help someone see that they are not alone.
I’ve always written for myself, besides the few things I’ve written for my parents or brother over Christmas or letters to friends and Steve, but now I’m considered published. It’s a little crazy to even say that, or to say that I have an editor! But I’m very excited. I’ve written things about Dakota many times, and now I get to share some of those stories with a community that is going through similar experiences. I don’t know where this will lead, but I’m just really grateful it’s happening.
On another note, Steve and I are packing our stuff up bit by bit this week as we are moving out of the apartment and back onto the boat on Saturday! It’s really not much to pack and move, it’s just the task of doing it late enough in the week so that we still have clothes to wear and food to eat. It’ll most likely be more of a Friday task, but I did get things cleaned up at the boat so that when we do begin to move on we’ll have space to put things (without a paddle board and many, many tools in the way).
We went to see The Avett Brothers in concert on Sunday, and the rainy week ahead held off for us to have a lovely time with beautiful weather. The venue was actually next to a marina, so we decided next time we’ll just sail there!!! Who knows, maybe we won’t even have to buy a ticket and instead we’ll just listen from the cockpit (hah!).
Everything we do is an adventure with Steve, whether it’s dancing around the lawn at a concert or watching a movie at home. Our next big adventure this year was supposed to be a trip to Scotland to visit a friend, though he hasn’t left yet so we aren’t sure that we’ll be going either. Instead, the hope is to sail all July and August, and then take a road trip to Yellowstone! We have to be in Wisconsin to house sit in September anyway, so why not go early (and drive a lot more) for a little bit of an adventure? This was all Steve’s idea, but I’m all for it.
As always, we never really know what our plans are until they’re happening, so stay tuned to see if this all pans out!
We’re excited to move back on the boat this week, which is hilarious timing considering this Thursday the 16th is our anniversary of officially living aboard together! The world works in mysterious ways.
Next monday we will be flying to CO for a week for a family wedding, and then we will be sailing around all July (with an exception for a few weekends that we have plans for). SV Batland will be back on the Bay and we can’t wait to spend more time on the water.
I hope this day finds you well.
Cheers!
Skye
Mentally Sailing 