In April we will cross our fifth year living on the water. It’s crazy how fast time flies! Already we have lived aboard our Transpacific sailboat two years. We have done many projects on her, imprinting our fingerprints and making her ready to cruise the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

“A sailor’s plans are written in the sand at low tide” (author unknown). How true that is. Our original plans were to cruise up to Alaska then down the Pacific coast to Mexico, cross the Panama Canal to the Caribbean for a bit before crossing the Atlantic to the Mediterranean to tour Europe with our children before they left for college. As with many, the Covid pandemic of the last two years have put a wrinkle in our timing, continuing to devastatingly delay our departure.

Our boat’s name is Royal Way. The reason, we want to live our life being good stewards of our time, opportunities and possessions. Being a good steward of my time is wiping away my disappointed tears of ‘not my timing’ and chose to embrace each day as a gift. That attitude choice is easier some days then others. Our children, now 15, 13, 11 and 8, continue to grow into young adults and have also graciously accepted our changing plans.

One of the biggest opportunity changes for me is switching hats from full time homeschool mom to fullish time working mom. I guess you could say I have taught myself how to excel from simple straight stitch projects to more complicated boat canvas projects. The many projects I have accomplished range from phifertex window shades, pleated curtains, cushions, covers, bags, Biminis and enclosures. Last summer I patterned outside on the dock and sewed on our salon table until a member of our yacht club so graciously allowed me to turn their boathouse loft into a sewing room. Now I have a 12 foot patterning table and a warm place to stretch out and sew.

I am thankful to seize this sewing opportunity for it has certainly bolstered confidence in myself and what I can determinedly accomplish with my hands.

This winter I have wrestled with contentment and struggled with disappointment and depression as the tide has come up yet again and washed away our plans it seems. A friend on ours asked what was the bottom line reason for wanting to go on such a daring adventure as a family?

My reason: We love books. We love to learn. We enjoy photographs and documentaries of different places, but long to see and experience them first hand as a family. Kinda like hearing about someone’s Disneyland vacation and seeing their pictures doesn’t fulfill my soul as my own Disneyland experience with my family. We want to sail and swim in beautiful warm water and see historical places without a hurried timetable. I feel constrained by the time I have left while all our children are under our sails and are still willing to go on such an adventure.

But this world has changed in the last two years which perhaps makes it “easier” to be content cruising the beautiful Pacific Northwest while we continue to work hard and store up a cruising kitty for an unknown future. Until then, we continue to enjoy each day we’re blessed with, as I hope you, my reader will as well.

Blessings, Jacy