So, after our initial joy at arriving, and then an immediate “Holy fck, what have we done?!” reaction, we are starting to settle in. I won’t lie- our first reaction when we moved aboard was… not positive. I could write a book about why that was, but really, it was about our expectations.
We arrived with the expectation of spending a week or two loading our stuff onboard the boat, tweaking a few mechanical odds and ends, and then sailing off to a beautiful New England cruise.
Phtttt. Stupid us.
There is much more to do than we expected. And to be honest, it was heartbreaking at first when we realized what needs to be done. Things that I already had rebuilt on O Be Joyful will be needed to be rebuilt on Gabrielle.
And for me, I discovered a new form of sorrow in the “It’s Not The Same As I Was Used To!” category. I’m smart enough to know that moving into a new space is going to present different challenges, but damned if I didn’t freak out because I didn’t have the same drawer to store my restaurant industry sized roll of plastic wrap. That was one of many mini freak-outs.
I want to acknowledge and thank my eldest son Brad for, when I was bending his ear with all these major issues, telling me, “Dad, Those are a bunch of White People Problems.”
He’s exactly right. When I look at where we are, and what we are doing, and what we will be doing soon… yeah, White People Problems.
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I just want to make a special note about something that we are experiencing here- I don’t think I’ve ever experienced the same level of warmth, cheerfulness, helpfulness, and friendliness from a bunch of people than what we are seeing. It is almost overwhelming. The guys in the boatyard could not be more helpful, and cheerful to boot. On the street, if you’re a pedestrian, drivers will slam on their brakes and flash their lights to give you right of way. We had a flat tire last week, and the guy at the tire shop apologized because it would be more than half an hour before he could change our tire.
Kate and I have exhausted the phrase, “Dang! They’re so FRIENDLY!”.
We’re really starting to like it here.
Awe, I’m so happy that things are coming together for you. To follow up on what Brad said, Charley and I often remind each other that our woes are “First World Problems”. That really reminds us how lucky we are .