It’s strange to live in a place you plan to leave, when you’ve got one foot in the door and one foot out. I am sitting in a friend’s apartment, in front of my travel easel and make-shift supply stand (several plastic bins stacked atop one another) wondering where I will be finishing up this new painting I’ve started? And what will I do with it when I am done? Every week for the past two months I’ve asked myself this same question. Where will I be this time next week?
The whole experience seems to be unfolding in the only way that it could: we will leave when the boat is ready. And when the boat is ready, we will be ready. We should be truly prepared to tackle most of the potential problems that we could face during the trip. Sometimes you don’t need to travel in order to find yourself in a different place.
It’s certainly made for an interesting year of transitions: from living in a house, to living on the boat, then living on a project boat that was more like a work shed, and finally staying in a friend’s apartment and making the 45 minute drive to work on it at the boatyard everyday. If you’ve let Brian or I relax on your couch, watch TV at your house, do laundry in your washer/dryer, cook dinner in your kitchen, craft in your living room, sleep in your guest room, sleep on your couch, store things in your garage, store things in your back yard, or listened while Brian and I poured out our woes and frustrations over the past year, then please accept this virtual thank-you for helping us retain our sanity throughout the process.
If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, past travels, and living abroad, it’s that happiness relies on sharing experiences with other people; it doesn’t matter where you are. I haven’t been able to participate in many of the movie-going, music concerts, and going-out activities over the past year because of my tight budget, but our living situation has given me the opportunity to spend some quality time with friends while doing the most mundane of tasks. Believe me, no matter the location, there is nothing like sharing a good meal and conversation with others (and it fits into my budget nicely).
