We're coming up on our one-year cruising anniversary, and Ean and I have been reflecting on our new life. We're still pretty clueless. We've found this life to be more difficult than we expected. Things break all the time and we don't know how to fix them. Ean misses toast. I miss floor space. We hate being mono-lingual and sand.
younger and prettier and smarter and more creative than we are. They fix engines, install solar panels, sew cushions, grow sprouts, revarnish their teak, and understand how their systems work. In their spare time, they sketch, make jewelry, write poetry, play the banjo, kayak, scuba dive, take fabulous underwater pictures, and never watch television.
Recently, a few of these cruisers, in their spare spare time, have begun posting lovely scenes with life-affirming messages. For example, there will be an image of a sailboat, at anchor off a perfect deserted beach, and inscribed across the top, in an aesthetically pleasing font, a sentiment about Living Your Life: mindfully, in the moment, to the fullest, or whatnot.
These cruisers - they are inspiring. We admire and envy them. Early on, we, too, aspired to be inspiring. But as it turns out, Ean and I - we're more like a cautionary tale. But that's okay. We've come to accept and even embrace our identity. In fact, we've come to understand it as a mission.
This mission: to anti-inspire others. We're here to maintain the balance of the universe. Our message to aspiring cruisers, or anyone who dares to dream of casting off the ties that bind and living a life full of fun/adventure and/or intention/meaning: Is it too late to get your deposit back?
Here, humbly presented, for the first time in graphical format, an Expression of Anti-Inspiration.
Here, humbly presented, for the first time in graphical format, an Expression of Anti-Inspiration.
I love it! That Ean is a funny dude!
ReplyDeleteJust because he misses toast? Toast is important! A symbol of civilized life.
DeleteSailing the world so you dont have to... loving it!!
ReplyDeleteYou can totally relate, right, Maia? Big hugs to you.
DeleteThank you, thank you. It's the least we can do to contribute to the greater welfare of humanity.
Deletebrilliant!!
ReplyDeleteLOLOLOL. LOLOLOLOL.
ReplyDeleteTammy, thanks for the shout-out on Facebook - I KNOW you can hear Ean's voice coming through on this one, even though I actually wrote it. We sat here and drank too much wine and laughed ourselves silly. When we woke up in the morning, we asked each other, "Is this a bit TOO snarky?" And then we re-read it and decided it was just snarky enough.
DeleteI don't know you, but I love your blog and your writing. Tell Tucker to get brainstorming on toast! For morale!
ReplyDeleteJohn, THANKS! - awesome idea. I have spent the last half-hour trying to explain the concept of "toast" to Tucker. I think I DID mention he's a little... slow? But let's see what he comes up with.
Deletehaha I love, love, love it! Not at all snarky, it's a refreshing change of view point. I share your envy and admiration of other sailing couples/bloggers who are awesome at everything they touch. We have shore power at the moment so toast is an option, it will definitely be one of the things I miss when cruising, it's toasty smell and deliciousness when smothered in butter. Although if I'm desperate enough I may try using a little camping toaster on the stove or bbq. Where there's a will right?
ReplyDeleteOh, that's nice. Perhaps you could go into greater, more tantalizing detail about toast. Cause that wouldn't be mean at all. (c;
DeleteI"ve considered both of the options you presented. I fear being horribly disappointed if they fall short of my toast standards. But then again, maybe I should abandon my toast standards. God knows all my others are gone.
Ha! It's an incredibly useful skill, being able to laugh at yourself. I know because I'm a bumbling idiot on a sailboat... I've been living on it for months, and we've owned the boat for five years... yet, how do all those corners keep surprising me by smacking me in the head?! You guys are awesome... I hope we'll run into you somewhere. If we can EVER get out of NY, that is!
ReplyDelete"Younger, prettier, smarter'...." Man. I am in big trouble.
ReplyDeleteBut I love this post and I love that poster! I think it's wildly important for people to post about the down side of living on a boat and cruising. It absolutely keeps the universe in balance and makes those of us still in the planning stages more thoughtful about how we move forward. Thanks for sailing the world before I get my feet wet!
Love the post. Just backs up my "life-concept" , that there's room for all of us. Some NEED to watch TV, NBA, NFL.. WTF...some need to eat that special processed junk food, some need to be able to call out repair techs, and some enjoy living in the madness of a city. Some don't. The trick is to figure out who you are...and have the Cohones to do it. All power to ya for trying it & figuring out who you are. You obviously have a strong relationship...90% would've split by now. I salute you. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks LittleCunningPlan and George - it all boils down to "different strokes for different folks" and if we can make a few people laugh along the way, good on us. But George, you're right, we've heard of many marriages that haven't survived cruising, and we definitely didn't want to be one of those couples (I think I heard Ean muttering something about homicide being more likely than divorce.... :) .)
ReplyDeleteLove this poster, I may have to blow it up and stick it on us wall back home. We're a couple of young sailors, but we try to make our lives as easy as possible, no challenging long passages or bad conditions. But we all know it doesn't work out that way. We don't keep the bad bits a secret though, we like to laugh about them - http://tiko.webs.com/
ReplyDeleteLyns
I don't know... that "Sailing Joys" post of yours is pretty shiny-happy! :) I'll be on the look-out for top-ten WORST things post. In the meantime, Sailing Joys is a great post for The Monkey's Fist topic, The New Normal: http://themonkeysfist.blogspot.com/p/the-new-normal.html
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