Ikimashou Yo

Did Eric and I just start packing and get ready to live on a boat after Mexico, no. Living on a sailboat or moving was not exactly on our minds. It was a pipe dream. Something you talk about, but you feel you could never achieve. We talked about the idea of moving and the different ways to live, but in our minds it was years away. In short, we had not taken any action. It was just conversation that made us happy for the moment.

We did not think to change our lives until the loss of a dear kitty of ours, Dre. Dre had a hard life in the beginning. He was picked on and called mean, but Eric was his safety net. There was an unspoken bond that only a pet and owner can really feel. I remember at the start Dre did not warm up to me too well. He was happy with my husband and his attention.

In a short time, Dre started to warm up to me. He would sit near me if Eric was not around. I could pet him and he would purr. You have no idea the honor and love you feel the moment a kitty purrs for you when they have not let you into their bubble. I got to feel the instant bond that Eric had with him all these years.

A few years back Dre became diabetic. It happens to cats as they get older, especially male cats. Eric and I got him to the vet and the medication he needed. It was hard giving him shots twice a day. You knew he did not like it, but we had to do what we could for him. Sadly in July 2013 the diabetes and dementia set in on our 18 year old kitty, Dre. He was growing skinnier, and less active. He called to us one night. It was his time to go. He wanted to say good bye to us. Eric held him most of the night comforting him. We had expected to wake up the next morning and find him gone for good. But he was still struggling and we had to make a very difficult decision. We finalized on the need to put him down, one of our friends and children.

In our time of grieving, Eric and I started to talk again about travel and dreams for our lives. With Dre's condition we could not think of a large move. The stress would be too much, and we would never leave him behind. Now we have Dre's sprit with us, always. Our process of finding a new direction for us started with just searching.

We had many thoughts and ideas of where to go and what we would do. We spent days talking about the situation. We hammered every detail possible. We started to make things simple. We needed to sell some of our belongings. Moving is hard in general, with years of collected items there was no way we wanted to move it all. Our start was garage sales, online sales, and word of mouth. We wanted it all gone. Not for the sake of funding, but we started to realize that much of what we had was not used in the years we had it. It is a great feeling to let items go that just took up space. Warning this action can be addicting, so make sure you find a way to control the action. Things started to get separated, things to sell and things to keep. Our travel was about to begin. Our words started to become our action.

We live on a boat, a sailboat to be precise. This is not very different from many of the others who have chosen this life. Each of us has our own stories to tell. This will be a journal of our story. We have our Captain Eric, Admiral Sharon, First Mate Aoko, and our Deck Swabs Skit, Lilly, and Toast. Before we took on the boat we lived in Northwest Iowa. We were used to waves of corn, and oceans of beans. Wildlife was cattle and pigs with a few interesting creatures such as raccoons, snakes, deer and the occasional skunk. The predictability of the weather was nonexistent. One moment we would be below freezing, and in a few short hours it would be sunny and maybe in the sixties. This could happen pretty much any time of the year. Iowans are built to endure weather. We are used to multiple feet of snow, and snow drifts that cover a house. As Iowans, we just plow through it, and go about our day. We are used to high temperatures in the summer, and we still farm through it. We have had levies break and flood our homes, but we still managed to get it back up and running without a peep. In short, Iowans are a quiet, strong breed of people. We are wary of new comers, but we will give you the shirt of our back if you are in need. Both the Admiral and our captain have lived their entire lives in Iowa. We were born there, we were raised there, but we decided not to rest there.

Eric and I have been married six years. In that time we lived on the East side of Iowa. Eric worked for a university, and I worked in sales and music lessons. We trudged through our jobs like most Americans. They were not bad jobs, but they did not give us much in return other than a paycheck to live off of. Eric went on to develop his home brewing skills. It was evident that he was talented in making a great beer. So we set off for Northwest Iowa to start up a brewery. That brewery is still going on today. I still took on sales and teaching lessons. In a short time, we found we were not as happy as we had hoped. We felt a constant struggle in our lives, and our married life. We just did not know what we were missing.

In May 2013 there was to be a wedding. I was the maid of honor for my dear college roommate and friend. It was in Playa de Carmen, Mexico. Eric and I had not had a personal vacation since our honeymoon. It was chilly in Iowa when we left. We flew into Mexico and it was warm. Not too hot, not chilly at all, but warm like a blanket fresh from the dryer. We had some hiccups in the room department, and spent most of our first day going to the beach and checking on our room situation. We still felt optimistic and happy in this place despite all the hiccups. The beach was amazing to look at. The sand was soft on your feet. The waves were nice pushing against your body. There was something about looking out at the waves, and just seeing endless blue waters. Almost as if you could go on forever. We took a small catamaran out on a reef tour. We saw a turtle and then the vast ocean. Looking down and seeing the floor that was more than 12 feet away. Our sailor of the catamaran told us about his history. He worked with computers and sounded like he made very good money. He turned it all in, and lived the life of the sea. He gave tours on the catamaran, and did diving snorkeling. He was not making the money his old job gave him, but he stated that his is far happier with his life. This sailor would not change his life for the world. There was something about ocean that was compelling. It was beautiful, peaceful, and what I had been searching for in my life, simplicity. I never thought Eric would look my way and say this is what he wanted in his life as well.