I wanted to shake up my life and go sailing (or learn on the job, so-to-speak) so headed to Florida to crew on a catamaran. This is about how it went or, rather, didn't - and my life since. Hopefully it will lead to a catamaran on the clear aqua blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, watching the sunset, a coconut rum and coke in hand. You must START AT THE BEGINNING of the blog, April 2009, to get the whole story...

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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.

5 comments:

  1. Hope you had a great birthday, Sandra!

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  2. Thanks Mike. I did have a really nice day with far too much food. Now I have to get back to eating properly.

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  3. Cheers.

    (have decided not to throw away big expensive dream - thank you!)

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  4. Just re-reading this today... little did I know when I wrote it that I would be celebrating my next birthday ON TORTOLA having just arrived that day for my month-long visit to the islands. SO GREAT!!!!

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