19 Years Before the Mast

A L O H A !

" There are some people who live 
in a dream world,

and there are some who face
reality;

and then there are those

who turn one

into the other.  "

Desiderius Erasmus

 

" A house is not a home

unless it contains food and fire

for the mind

as well as the body.  "

Benjamin Franklin

" If my world were to cave in tomorrow,

I would look back on all the pleasures,

excitements and worthwhilenesses 

I have been lucky enough to have had.

Not the sadness, not my miscarriages

or my father leaving home,

but the joy of everything else.

It will have been enough. "

 
Audrey Hepburn

   > < } } ( ° >

     
 

Oh how I loved the adventure
of moving on to the boat.

September, 1992. 

Hurricane Iniki came to visit days later.

What an adventure!
What a solution to expensive Honolulu housing.

It was all ours. It was private.  Quiet.

Harbor politics were just the price you had to pay

to live this special life on the water,

under the open sky

right here in Waikiki.

I completed my college degree,

worked  "a career"

wrote a novel

got older.

Oh how READY I was to get OFF
in recent months!

A million and one distasteful tasks 
every day.

And confinement.

ENOUGH!

But I cried the night before we moved.

"It's not too late to change our minds!"

I feel like I've been released 
from  prison,

or the military,

or the merchant marine.

Normal Civilian life
is SWEET!

Now I'm cooking, washing, sleeping.

A noise in the night no longer threatens

sinking.

The rain and wind pelt my snug window,

and our "deck" doesn't heave and churn

in rough weather.

I'm LOVING IT!

Cherish the roof over your head.

UPDATE:   A young(er) couple has given us earnest money

for the boat!

"I like tools in my hand." Says the guy who even has a slip to put it in!

Cleaning up, retrieving last possessions, I'm moved by how much of our life together

has been lived on that vessel; I'm glad it will get a new crew, life and voyage.

I'm so happy living indoors.  

Thanks for being a part of this sweet life.

And for your comment/gift!

                                                Warmly, cloudia