In the past year, we've had some challenges, not least among them my (Deby) health. In the fall I took an Aerial Yoga Class (to build upper body strength, of course) only to find out becoming inverted was not good for me - as I had an undiagnosed heart condition. SURPRISE!
Undaunted, and eager to jump out and see if we really were ready to DO THIS THANG, we went to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi to check out a Catalina 42 as a potential new home. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. We fell in love with her immediately and knew we absolutely could do this. The owner wanted to sell right away, no later than February 28th, but the timing wasn't right for us.
⛵ Eye Openers ⛵
- Our love for sailing and sailboats has not diminished over the past 20+ years as landlubbers.
- We really, REALLY only get to take the equivalent of 3 (or 4 maybe?) IKEA bags worth of stuff. Everything else must go.
- We felt the layout of the boat (including the headroom) was perfect for us, but the timing was off.
- We decided to stop looking at boats for the time being, since we were not ready to jump on board until our home sells.
We spent January traveling (Chicago & Dallas), February traveling (Athens, Rome, Dublin), March traveling (Brooklyn) and finally got back to actual work in April/May before turning our attention to our son's wedding in June.
Now it's July and we're preparing to put our home on the market. After living comfortably in this home for 20+ years... we're finding it all very difficult to make that jump. We both KNOW we'll be glad we did and wonder why we didn't do it sooner.... But there's so much to do.
⛵ Bjarne's area of concern is getting the house ready to sell... all the little things that we know need to be done... and a couple of pretty BIG things, too. He's also bothered by the logistics of it all. When, How, Where, How Much???
⛵ Deby's finding letting go of 'stuff' is harder than she had originally imagined. So we're downsizing to half (of everything we own) first, then we'll be ready to downsize to the aforementioned IKEA bags... right? Somebody, PLEASE, tell us that'll work!
We've been taking a few more steps toward making this pipe dream become our daily reality.
Step 4: Weed out closets and cabinets - conduct a Worldly Possession Sale. First one done, more to come.
Step 5: Make repairs found when cleaning out closets, etc.
Step 6: Hold a Karma Sale - more on this to come
Steps 7 - 1,000: ???!!! Stay tuned...
So, forgive the lapse in communication - and follow us as we make the decisions and lifestyle changes necessary to realize our dream, and downsize... literally and FIGURE-atively!
We'll share our progress along the way; good, bad and ugly; more regularly going forward. We promise.
And one day... in the not too distant future... we'll invite you to a boat-warming party!
Post your questions below, and know we still work full-time jobs, so this is something we'll take day-by-day. We're not sailing off any time soon (unless the wind blows us that way) and you can join us in the journey.
Bjarne & Deby
