S/V Passage - Refitting a Classic (& Building Our Skills) Before Cutting the Docklines

This past weekend was a huge milestone for me...I finally reached the big 3-0! While this may seem a bit silly to some...many of my friends have already reached this point already...this is the age so much in my life has led up to. For several years after moving to Chicago I wanted to be an HR Manager by the time I was 30, thought maybe I'd get married shortly after 30, and I'd definitely average travelling to at least 30 countries by age 30. Riiiight.

At 24 I was both an HR Manager and married, and I've been to 16 countries (outside the USA). I'm 0 for 3. I suck at planning. Maybe this means I'm meant to be a cruiser because no one who lives the life seems to stick to any solid plans they started with either. David and I keep rethinking so many of our life ambitions, even the 5 year plan we hatched just a year and a half ago. Now that the five year mark is 3.5 years away, we are trying to figure out how we can whittle it down even further...to 2.5 or hell, even 1.5 years!

At the strangest moments, I'm reminded of just how amazing our lifeplan really is...I found out today that several years ago, someone at my new job actually did exactly what we are working towards! She and her husband sold everything, including their home, and took off on a sailboat to live her dream...my coworkers were amazed, and envious, as if it's this big impossible feat. Is it really? Or is changing one's mindset to live the dream and maybe moreso the acceptance (not fear) of the unknown actually the hardest part?

We had some unfortunate setbacks this weekend, in the midst of a fairly elaborate celebration aboard Passage. The short story is that our starter is broken-which we discovered when a bunch of friends had already come aboard to go out on Lake Michigan to watch the annual Air & Water Show and to celebrate my birthday. [Hopefully the starter will be fixed within the next few days so we don't have to spend $$$ on a new one!] Thankfully, we had amazing and understanding people who ensured an amazing day in spite of thunderstorms and a dead engine. Because it was (literally) the biggest boating weekend of the entire year in Chicago, we couldn't get anyone out to fix Passage's engine until after the weekend, so we celebrated the next day on the can as well. Yes, David planned an entire weekend of festivities-including just the two of us sleeping over on Friday night.

My friends are a great bunch of people who helped me understand that the backup plan you never considered can be just as good as the original. That's certainly true of our lifeplan as well! It's important to remember that no matter what I think will happen, it certainly won't but the resulting outcome will likely be better!

Whatever will be, will be...

Check out more details of my birthday weekend on Passage's Facebook Page!