Land Lubbers to Sea Lovers

Land Lubbers to Sea Lovers

In a whirlwind, our lives have spun from the love of comfort, space, time and the American Dream.  White picket fences, big lawns, steady careers, convenience...

Space. 

Comfort. 

Certainty. 

These things aren't in and of themselves negative.  They are peaceful.  Attractive.  Desireable.  

But sometimes comfort creates space for complacency.  We let distractions wield their way into our minds and hearts and forget what our ultimate purpose is.  We fill the comfort of space with more stuff which ultimately distracts us into experiencing the freedom and joy that a "simple" life has to offer.  

From the time Ben and I were married, we've been enticed by the idea of living simply.  When the tiny home movement struck, we were fascinated by it.  We looked into what it would take for us to accomplish that dream...but it was always a distant thought.  

To be honest, the thought of living in an area less than 400sqft scared the bananas out of me.  I love my conveniences...the big couch, all of my kitchen gadgets, my shoes...ALL of my shoes....for the love of all that is good, I've actually purchased shoes because I didn't have that one color in that exact shade to go with that one shirt I owned because God forbid I mismatch a pair of shoes with that shirt...shameful.  But it's reality.  That was literally the basis of why I bought my first pair of Toms...I looked at the couple dozen pairs of shoes/sandals I owned and I realized I didn't have a pair of green shoes...and I was in the mood for green shoes.  So I hopped online and finally committed to buying my first pair of Toms...in Green Apple.  They were amazing. They became my accent shoes and made every outfit I paired them with pop with excitement and flair. Now, over four years later, they are riddled with holes and they're still my favorite pair of shoes.  

Anyways, I think you get my point.  The more things I acquired, the more cluttered my life became.  Did I need all of those Mossimo V-Neck Ts from Target in every color?  Of course I did. After all, it made my wardrobe more exciting. But if I can be honest with you, it just gave me more menial choices to make every day.

All this to say, Ben and I got to a point where the every day menial choices clouded our opportunities to love deeper.  And at that point of decision, our lives took a turn for the best and we decided to chase a dream that both of us didn't even know we had...we decided to live on a sail boat.  

After searching for a home on land for quite some time and getting more and more discouraged by the escalated HOA dues, we struggled to find a home within our budget.  However, what began as a distant fantasy, quickly turned into an attainable reality.  We did our research (and when I say "we" I mean Ben...my part was pinteresting "living on a sailboat" blogs and organizational ideas...) and began realizing this new nautical dream.  It was a world nearly completely foreign to both of us, yet exactly what we were looking for.  Understanding we had zero clue about how to sail, we cashed in our rewards miles and took a trip to Hawaii to learn how to sail.  

The first day at sea took my breath away.  Now, I had been on many boats before and even taken a few catamarans out in the Caribbean, but when we shut the motor off and let the sails take us away, there was nothing else that compared.  I was hooked.  We lived on that 33ft Ranger for 7 days, sailing around the island of O'ahu and with each passing day, we fell more in love with the lifestyle. 

Simple and beautiful.  Yet, it brought its own challenges. Like learning how to communicate quickly and clearly, letting one another know every intention so the other person can react according to the desire of whoever was driving at the helm.  And, after a week of sailing, what began as a completely foreign language became a new set of skills. By the end of the week, we had our 101, 103 and 104 ASA certifications and were ready to set sail on our own. 

We looked at several spots in the Seattle area and found the perfect spot to moor, right out of a Nicolas Sparks novel...Gig Harbor.  Every time we drove through this adorable little town, our hearts melted a little more.  The smell of the sea (or more accurately, the sound...), the harbor seals that resided there and the sounds of the lapping water along the piers quickly climbed the charts of our favorite things.  The only thing left was to find the right sail boat for us to live aboard!  It has been a long journey, but the good news is we are nearing the end of the research phase and will be (hopefully) moving onto our new vessel within the next week or two! 

The road up to this point has been both incredibly exciting and quite frightening.  Knowing that we are about to embark on this journey is liberating as it opens so many doors to travel, exploration, living simply and entirely unlike anything we have ever done. 

I plan to keep you posted on our triumphs and trials and take you along with us as we explore this new adventure...from land lubbers to sea lovers, experiencing this new adventure and learning how to let go of the things that quite literally will weigh us down if we continue to hold tightly to them.  

Now, just need to find me some boat shoes... #thestruggleisreal