Launch Day
13 August 2008 | Pt Townsend
Mary
It's the 13th of August and we left this morning, escorted by a friend in her dinghy out of the marina after having met another friend at the pump-out station, bringing us two cups of coffee. We love you guys. It struck us last night that we are leaving on the 10th anniversary of the birth of our first baby. A fortuitous departure, I think. As I was thinking back on the date, I laugh at how similar my emotions are today to this day 10 years ago when we arrived home to our boat with our new baby, just 4 hours after he was born. We were terrified, we were giddy, we were happy ..and we were sad. So most of these emotions you can understand, but the sad part seems unusual. But Scott and I (ok, especially Scott) were sad because we knew that our life as we knew it was over and it really hadn't been so bad ..pretty damn good in fact. So, likewise, today we left our life that wasn't so bad (speaking for myself, of course - Scott's really not so sad this time) and starting something totally new and unknown.
We anchored at Port Townsend, the first of our three stops between Seattle and the Pacific, around 4:30 this afternoon after motoring most of the morning and sailing the rest of the day. Totally ideal: 10-18 knots from the northwest. Just can't wait to sail in something other than jeans, fleece, and foul weather gear (no rain today, just cold wind). California here I come! We'll head for Port Angeles tomorrow around 6am, taking advantage of the last half of the ebbing tide. Cannot bear to leave any earlier.
The kids flew to San Jose last Monday to hang with their three cousins and aunt and uncle (God bless them!) until we arrive in San Francisco (which at the earliest, won't be until the 26th). It was so nice to make a meal knowing that no one would complain, cry, make weird faces or simply not eat. Scott suffers in silence.