hiking in the NC mountains ~ January 2012
As the days rapidly disappear behind us, and our deadline quickly approaches, my mind races with the many things left to do. Every spare moment, when I’m not teaching school, I’m selling on craigslist, selling on ebay, adding to the donation pile, and packing away memories. At the same time, I’m remembering all of the boat things we need to get done . . . order trampolines, mosquito netting, and electronics, get a documentation plaque made, carry another load to the boat, and the list goes on.
Once the holidays were behind us, we knew we would be kicking it into high gear, especially for the last few months before departure. And “in high gear” is exactly where we stand, or shall I say running! We are tackling everything head on, and the rest of life has gone on autopilot.
Last night during dinner, I stopped and took a good look at both of the kids. I wondered what was going through their minds with all of this craziness, so I asked them. Both of their responses indicated that two and a half months seemed like a long time away. That answer surprised me because I feel like it’s so little time, especially since it’s been 12 years in the making. I was instantly reminded about just how relative time is with respect to a person’s age!
My next question for them was how they felt about all of the changes taking place. Colin’s instant response was, “Blue, blue, blue!” He can’t wait to see clear, beautiful, blue water and gorgeous waterfalls, as well as catch huge fish . . . images he’s been seeing in all of our friends’ cruising photos. He’s ready to get cruising asap! Justine’s response was a little tougher to gauge, as she tends to be more quiet and speaks with fewer words. However, I did manage to get a little more information out of her eventually. She said that she was already used to living on the boat. That it’s not like we own the place where we’ve been staying, and we already moved out of our house. She said she’s ready to go, but time is moving too slowly.
We can definitely count on our kids to keep us in perspective and realize what’s important. At the end of our dinner conversation, I apologized to the kids in advance for any neglect they might feel over the next few months. Wil reminded them that we may not have a lot of time to spend together right now, but in less than 3 months, they weren’t going to be able to get rid of us! We all laughed, but we are all truly looking forward to spending 24/7 with each other. As with every family, we will have our moments, but we love our family, and all love being together.
In the meantime, today is a beautiful day, so we’re going to take the afternoon off to go play with some friends on the baseball field & tennis courts. We all need a little time to relax & have fun.
