ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

It's my birthday again today. One year to the day since I started this blog. When I think back, it feels like a lifetime ago instead of just a year. So much has happened since then. And if I had known how it all was about to play out, would I have gone - on a wing and a prayer as someone recently put it? I can't say. Probably not. So I am glad I didn't know because, even though the attempt at joining a sailboat and the resulting fiasco was wrought with a lot of stressful moments, it was also an amazing experience. I went to Florida for the first time. I drove myself across the panhandle and down to the Florida Keys (using a GPS) for the first time. I spent a month with a much loved cousin I hadn't seen for almost two decades. I got the darkest tan I think I have ever had. I went snorkeling in the best waters I had ever snorkeled in. I drove Alligator Alley and saw gators laying in the ditch beside the road. I went to Miami Beach and walked the street with the Art Deco buildings I had only seen in movies. I met some wonderful new people and made a new friend. I bought a pink mosaic flamingo as a souvenir.

A good friend took me out for lunch for my birthday today. She was talking about how she has a sense of adventure that she doesn't get a chance to let loose because her life is here with her husband who doesn't share her adventurous spirit. I am thankful that I am free to let mine loose. Sometimes, lately, it doesn't feel like I can let it loose because I am restricted by a lack of finances. But my mind soars.

I still have not given up the dream of spending some serious time in the Caribbean. I have a boat lined up that I can join, if I choose to. I have a place to stay on Tortola for free, if I decide to skip the sailing and just go for a visit, and I have friends I can visit on Anegada, thanks in large part to this blog. I WILL get there one way or another. I just know it.

So here's to dreaming big and following where your spirit leads.