Christmas arrived

Well Christmas came even though I felt I was not prepared for it. I felt like I could use another week in order to get all the things done I wanted to do. Mind you I feel like that every year and Christmas arrives as usual.


The Saturday before Christmas we went to Cochrane to spend the day with Griff's daughter Ann Marie and her five children. Her husband is currently in Abu Dhabi on a work contract. His adventures can be followed on http://offtotheemirates.blogspot.com/ . It was fun watching the children open their presents and then having time to play with them. We are looking forward to visiting with Griff's other children and grandchildren when they come here on the 27th.

My children were here for Christmas day with Scott staying here for the week and Leila and Ryan staying at his parents home and coming here for gift opening and Christmas dinner. We managed to seat 12 people for Christmas dinner and had an enjoyable evening with the kids, my mom, my sister and her family. Today we spent some time visiting with my brothers and their families. We were able to see all the nieces and nephews as they were all home for the holiday.

In amongst preparing for Christmas we have also been packing bags to take with us when we leave for the British Virgin Islands, packing up the household to put into storage and trying to find renters for the acreage. Looking back over the past month I guess we have accomplished a lot.

As I have told friends and family, the closer our trip comes the more it seems to be unreal to me. There are some days I can't believe we are actually going and other days I feel that the trip is what we are meant to do. I guess ambivalence is normal when making such major changes in your life.

December is On Us!!

Well, although we mean for this site to be used primarily for the actual trip, a couple of people have remarked since we "went public" that we need to do regular updates so here goes.



It's hard to fathom, when Katie (our soon to be greatly missed dog) has to wait (with evident exasperation) while we bundle up to take her for a walk in -20 C weather, that we will soon be in much warmer and sunnier climes.



On the other hand, when we have been doing things such as cancelling the house requirements of electricity, gas, satellite, hi-speed wireless etc etc, the time seems almost to be flying. In 35 days we leave our haven of safety, our "Serenity Acres", for 3-4 years (or more or less), a week after that we leave the province and we are gone from Canada 1o days after that.


I've remarked to Cheryl that I am a little surprised to find myself at odd times questioning the decision we have made to uproot our lives and Sail Into the Mystic! Reflecting on it, however, and discussing it with my very pragmatic, well, somewhat pragmatic wife, I realize that there have been a tremendous number of things happening this year, all life changing - retirement, turning 65, getting married to a wonderful wonderful woman, buying a 49 ft boat and then leaving the place we both love so dearly and have been working so hard to personalize to OUR needs, throw in a trip to Las Vegas with Jason, sailing in Antigua with Julie and Graham, a month's honeymoon in Greece, a trip to BVI and 15 days sailing around Vancouver Island - in cold and wet weather incidentally - and then to top it off, I get my knee replaced and we invited all the family for Christmas. I wonder what a stress scale would say about that. I will have to ask a good psychologist!!


And I cannot even begin to speak for Cheryl (maybe I will get her to add something), who has had more than her share of changes and upheavals as well as a significant loss this year.

The other thing I will mention before I close (I know, I know, it was supposed to be an update - not a "rambling) is regarding my surgery. I don't suppose I will ever change but I realized that I had looked at getting my knee totally replaced as a minor inconvenience that would be short term pain - very very short term pain - for long term gain. So when I was unable to go dancing the Friday after I got out of the hospital, I think I started to feel somewhat weak and vulnerable and subsequently begin to question the decision I mentioned earlier.


For those of you who know me well, you will know that this was/is a decidedly temporary condition of unease. It still rears it's ugly head the odd time, when I have had a bad night of sleep or can't lift something(yet) that I think I should be able to RIGHT NOW, but it has never been strong enough to seriously endanger the dream.


We are going to live our dream!!

In the Beginning

THE DREAMERS:
Cheryl and Griff Thomas

THE DREAM:
To circumnavigate the world by sailboat

THE PROCESS:
In October 2005, Griff's daughter Julie commented that she, her husband Graham and their children Alex and Amelia were going to sail around the world starting in the fall of 2007. Griff said they could count us in and at that point the dream was born. Sailing lessons were started and a lot of time was spent researching boats and what would be required for such an undertaking. In April 2007, the dream was slightly altered when Julie and Graham decided they wanted to do the trip with their own boat. Too late!! By then we were hooked and decided to build our own dream and set out on an adventure of our own.

After many hours of internet searching by Griff for yacht sales, we decided to fly to the British Virgin Islands a week after our wedding on July 7, 2007.

Working with Clive Allen of BVI Yacht Sales we considered a number of boats and finally decided to purchase the Lily Mae, a 49ft. cutter rigged Ta Chiao, from Charlyn and Simon Anderson.

The month of August was spent sailing around Vancouver Island aboard Turicum, Warren Hale's 44ft. racing yacht, learning as much as we could about offshore sailing, navigation, spinnakers and such. Still lots to learn. While we were sailing, Lily Mae was put up on the hard in Nanny Cay, BVI to have the work done that we had agreed was part of the purchase.

We decided to change the name of our boat to Mystic Journey in keeping with what we both feel our life has been about since we met. After the usual government glitches, the legal name change was approved officially in September while we were honeymooning in Greece.

Griff decided that since our boat was being refurbished and having parts replaced maybe he should do the same. On Halloween he had a total right knee replacement done and is now recuperating.

The last step in this chapter is to pack up our home and put everything in storage; turn our home and dog over to our renters Jason and Lori Cousins and their children on January 15th; visit our children; and then leave for the British Virgin Islands on January 20th.

Let the honeymoon begin!!

We are finally headed out on our honeymoon on Monday September 17. We are off to Greece for four weeks - Athens for 4 days, chartering a sailboat to reach some of the Greek islands for a week, a week on Rhodes and a week on Crete. We will arrive back home on October 15. We are looking forward to a relaxing, restful time seeing lots of the ancient sites.