It's all the same right? We lived aboard in Mexico for 4 years and we are now living aboard in Port San Luis, so why then does it feel so much more stressful? Why do we suddenly have no time for anything and feel like we are constantly behind? With the kids now off the boat Monday-Friday from 630AM to 430PM isn't life easier? Don't you have time now for all those things that were difficult to do with a boat full of crew aboard?

Lori and I have been talking about this issue for weeks now and have determined that the evil behind all the extra stress is our old and forgotten friend, known as The Schedule. This evil is ever so subtle and almost unnoticeable at times, but like termites eating away the foundation of your house, the damage, however small, builds day by day...week by week, until the whole thing comes crumbling down. It's not that we didn't always have something to do back in our life in Mexico, we rarely had time to just relax. Actually, both Lori and I have more "down time" NOW while the kids are in school than we EVER did living on the boat in Mexico. The difference is that the clock was irrelevant, it didn't matter if we started home school at 8AM or 10AM. There was no hard fixed time for a kid pick up at the pier, no homework deadline, no Monday-Friday cycle of panic.

Living Aboard does give you a little insulation from the madness, but the more you interact with the "real world" the more the gravitational pull affects you and influences your life. The more errands you run around town and the more you intertwine your life into "society" the harder it is to avoid the reality that you are apart of it...dear God...say it isn't so. But I guess if you have to be a part of the circus you might as well pick a good seat with a view and as the photo shows, our view of the world sure isn't that bad. Even if it is currently 52-degs in the boat cabin and I'm wearing two sweatshirts, sweat pants, wool socks and looking at the soon to be installed diesel heater wishing I could find the time to finish the installation.

The good news is that so far we are still trying to find a "flaw" about our living aboard plan. The whole crew likes it (even Lori when she comes up for air) and when any serious talk surfaces about moving off the boat and becoming "dirt dwellers" it's unanimously voted down, almost as quickly as my plan to open a Taco Street Cart! It took us our entire lives to be trained to live with and accept the clock based schedule and after breaking free from it for a few years, it may take us a little more time to accept as normal and desirable again, if we ever do.