Our home in Martha's Vineyard.

October 19, 2014

I have found I am like a plant. Give me fertile soil, water, a little sunshine, and in about three weeks I will grow roots.

So much for “Vagabundos del Mar.”

Maybe I should explain.

We have been in the states for six months now. Today is the day we leave Martha's Vineyard and take the long journey back to Mexico. It begins with a ride on the ferry from Vineyard Haven to Wood's Hole. It is a cool October morning.

Crossing the sound, we pass the last of the Holmes' Hole races for the season and it looks like they are having a great time. With a nor'easter on its way, the sky is covered with a bed of gray clouds and there is a strong wind from the north. The sea is spotted with whitecaps. The sails are full and the rails are in the water.

Watching these sailboats in all their spendor reminds me of how much I miss sailing and living on Cadenza. Yet, as I look back, and the vineyard gets smaller and further away, I know I will miss it too.

We live in two worlds and the one we are leaving is the land-based life. Here we live in a house with a yard, grow vegetables and flowers and hang clothes on the line. We visit neighbors and take walks to the farm. We drive a car and pay taxes. We have a television. And of course, we sail our catboat. This is how we spend six months a year.

The other six months we live on a boat. At 45 feet, she is much smaller than our house, but Cadenza has everything we need. 2013 was our first winter cruising and we sailed her from the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, California, to La Paz, Mexico and then up into the Sea of Cortez. This winter we will continue on our journey, crossing the sea and sail to Mazatlan and from there, south, down the mainland coast of Mexico.

People say we are “living the best of both worlds.” And it is true, it is a wonderful lifestyle. But sometimes the sheer dichotomy of our existence can be disconcerting. Besides that, I thought when we sold our house in California, we would no longer be rooted to one place. California had been our home for over twenty years. It is where we held successful careers and where we raised our children. Once we let go of that phase of our life, I imagined we would become wanderers, travelers with no attachments. I was mistaken.

Because just when I find myself getting into the vagabundos rhythm...I grow roots!

It doesn't matter if it is our house in Martha's Vineyard or a town in Mexico. If we stay longer than three weeks, we start nesting and getting comfortable in our surroundings. We find camaraderie in a community and we fall into a routine.

This is about the time I start my “We gotta go” mantra. It's time to pull up our roots, cut the lines, and sail away – before our roots take hold.

It is all good. I just never expected the juxtaposition of two worlds to be so difficult.