How We Got Here

Steve, husband, father, and Captain has long dreamed of sailing around the world.  After being introduced to great explorers such as  Columbus, Magellan, Cortez, Lewis and Clark, and Powell as a young boy, the spirit of adventure was born.   While on deployment in Sicily with the Marines, it was the graceful sailboats gliding through the water that caught his eye. He decided right then and there one day he would own his own sailboat and go exploring.  He has spent the last 20 years working toward that dream. 

We met later in life, started dating, and one day he said, “Want to sail around the world with me?”  I said, “Sure, let’s do it!”  Now, at the time, I thought he was meaning “sail around the world” in the sense that most folks say, “I want to see the world” and then every year travel to a new destination throughout their lifetime.  I had an 11-year-old son and figured spring break, Christmas break, summers we’d take our little sailing vacations.  He took me sailing the Mediterranean for our honeymoon and I loved it!  Over the next seven years, we took yearly sailing trips to get out of the winter cold.  The first few years we chartered monohulls, but after being invited onto a catamaran, we decided to try that one winter and never went back. 

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. We have to back up a few years because here’s where things got interesting.  I started the discussion of possibly adding to our family.   Steve asked, "How in the world are we going to have more kids AND sail?"  My response, “We'll take them with us!”  This is the moment I discovered he was actually meaning buy a boat, move onto it, and live there… every day… as we made our way around the world.  No home on land, leaving behind family and friends.  That was a bigger pill to swallow, but we went about planning the timing of our little additions and soon enough baby girl number one came along... and two short years later, baby girl number two.  

As I mentioned, we were taking our yearly sailing trips and when we were on the boat, there was no denying this was truly Steve’s happy place.  After every sailing trip, the discussion on the way home was how we could make this dream a reality.  We knew we would wait for my son to graduate high school and then we would pursue life afloat.

My thoughts about this different lifestyle evolved over time.  I started out with thinking, “As long as we keep a house on land, just in case.  You know, something to come back to, we can do this.”   And, as things have a way of working out, my son graduated high school, we sold our house shortly after, found a boat we liked and, through the process of moving a couple times, I have found I’m less and less attached to life on land.  I’m excited to be downsizing…  and downsizing some more. Living aboard doesn’t seem as daunting as it had been originally.  And when I think about the adventure and life the girls will have, it’s truly exciting and I feel blessed we’re able to do it. 

Our plan, just like everything in life, has made many turns and for the next few years we will spend winters On the Brink, cruising warm climate areas while we wrap up life on land (work) and build our sailing kitty to go on the BIG adventure, circumnavigating the globe.