H Season Spoiler Alert Teaser Take One
22 April 2016
Last summer when we were back home in Canada during H-Season and busy with visiting family and friends, we experienced a few of those Strange and Serendipitous Moments, that you could perhaps, in hindsight, be as bold as to call Signs. It was as if The Universe was telling us something, pushing certain thoughts, quite repeatedly I might add, right into our field of vision. And what do you think happened after that ??
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I remember attending a retirement seminar way back when during my Working Life. The speaker addressed the crowded room, with a gentle tap on the microphone, and as the crowd shuffled into silence he introduced himself.
"Many of us have A Plan" he began. "When we're young, we have A Plan about which school we will attend. We have A Plan about which car we will buy. We Plan and save for our vacations. We Plan our jobs. We Plan for relationships. And we plan for our kids" he continued, "and not always necessarily in that order! "
To which the audience gave a responding, almost uncomfortable shift in their seats muffled in agreement type of laugh. For we all know what happens to the best laid plans, right ?
"But the one thing many neglect to do" he continued in all seriousness "and that is to plan your retirement. What is it you want to DO when you retire? And do you have a Plan for that?"
Now this seminar was being hosted by a banking institution, so you can well imagine where the talk went form there, but the AHA! Moment that stayed with me was just how relevant it is to have not only A Plan, but more importantly, a Bucket O'Dreams.
"You need to have A Plan" is also Dave's favourite saying, and I wholeheartedly agree. But having A Plan whilst simultaneously living the Cruising Life, well, it all needs to be as flexible as the shifting winds, right?
Dave and I are fortunate enough to have a shared interest in Travelling, in Exploring, in Adventuring. We have built a common and quite overflowing Bucket O'Dreams. Our first dream, as you might've guessed, was a few years in the Planning, but it has allowed us to comfortably retire and sail the Caribbean Waters for these last four years.
The more we adventured and explored, the more we knew we wanted to adventure and explore even more. We're not done with that dream just yet.
"I'd love to go to Cuba"
"And the Western Caribbean?"
"And cross the Atlantic?"
"Or transit the Panama Canal?"
"Explore the Pacific"
Ahem, cough cough
"Let's not get carried away hon. I've not yet done four straight days at sea, let alone four weeks"
To which, he (wisely) concurs as he replies
"Ya, been there done that, and don't need to do it again..."
BUT, there remains the ever present BUT.. right?
"But we could fly?"
"Charter a houseboat and travel the French Canals?"
"Hike the Camino Trails? Do an Italian Food Feast?"
And then a friend introduced us to the idea of Housesitting.
"We could explore the lands from the vantage of someone else's home?"
"Now that's interesting...!"
"I've always wanted to go to Australia"
"We could fly there, buy an RV, and drive around the country"
And we fall silent, sitting in the shade of our cockpit, contemplating what exploring Life down Under might be like.
And when we see a trawler or motor-cat pass us by as we're passaging, or perhaps anchored beside us, we go forth to meet the owners and talk about their Experiences and Adventures and always walk away a little wiser, and with the added bonus of new friendships as well as, you guessed It, more ideas swirling around.
"We could exchange our beloved Banyan for a small one of those?"
"Easier to explore the Bahamas with a shallow draft"
"We could travel the Great Circle Loop?" we mused out loud. "Explore the inland waterways in comfort and ease of not having to do any hoisting of sails, winching and pulling..." I said excitedly.
"Or whining" teases Dave.
And sometime in the future, when we're done with Life on a Heel with a Keel, our plan is to morph ourselves into an RV. Explore our own country form coast to coast, in the comfort of the Four Wheels that we would call home.
"I've never been to Newfoundland" I think out loud, as I finger count the provinces I have been to.
"I'd love to see the glaciers there, and the Rockies"
And we discuss what life might be like as we drive along the highways.
"And then there's Alaska?"
"Have you been to the Grand Canyon?"
"No, and I'd like to hug a Giant Redwood tree."
"And see sand in a dessert, not only the beach"
But that's plenty enough said about our Bucket O'Dreams, now you know that we've picked one !!
What's in your Bucket O'Dreams?? Feel like guessing ours? Or Sharing Yours?