Browsing on Facebook, a while back, I saw a post from a college friend named Honey. It was a bit of text saying that she and her husband, Chip had sold their home and all of their belongings and had moved on to their sailboat. They were setting off to live their dream and cruise the East Coast. We hadn’t kept up enough over the years and I was distracted and busy and moved on. But it stuck with me and nibbled at me. Could this be true?
So many questions kept popping into my head. She had her own business, but gave that up? They have young adult kids. How did they feel about this? Had they been planning this for a long time? Is this forever? We’re around the same age, in our mid-fifties and in many ways my life has never felt more complicated or stressful. How could they pull this off?
What it looks like to live your dream…
I continued to see updates on their journey. There was a picture on social media where they had gone out with friends in Manhattan while they were anchored in New York. Another describing how their kids hosted them for the holidays in North Carolina. There was a picture of them pulling the dinghy up to shore to go to church one Sunday. Trying to stay in a temperate climate, they had spent the Summer up north and headed to Florida waters for the Winter. Recently, I saw she had started a blog, to chronicle their journey. I dove into that. She had a FAQ page, I guess I wasn’t the only one with questions.
I finally reached out to her. I told her it seemed like a testament to a loving marriage and family to be able to do this. She said their life and marriage hadn’t always been perfect. But they had powered through and decided to go for their dream of living on a sailboat. She says it was a very intentional process. Planning it one step at a time, with an eye on the end goal.
Honey didn’t grow up sailing. She said she had a lot of fear about the whole thing. She worried about storms, about wrecking the boat, about falling off the dock getting into the dinghy and also their loss of income. This was definitely stepping out of her comfort zone. The biggest surprise for her? How easy that giant step was. A big part of Honey’s life is her faith. She says an important lesson they have learned is that life may be awkward or messy at times, and that’s okay. That first step may be scary but we tend to make a bigger deal out of things than they warrant.
The Cherry on Top
When I reached out to Honey, I had so many questions about the logistics and practical side of things. But what I came away with was an inspiring message. It’s about coming together to find your dream and going through the steps to make it happen. One goal they had was to show their kids what a happy marriage looks like, “and then we put the cherry on top by showing them what a dream can look like”. Their kids think it’s great. They feel very blessed to be living this journey. Now, they love to encourage other couples to create their own dream and partner together to achieve it.
We are all so wrapped up in our day to day lives, time flies by. A year goes by, and then another. It can feel like we’re out of control of our livers. Whether with your partner or even on your own, for that matter, communicating your dream, and steering yourself toward that dream is like taking the reins back. It’s living with intent. It may not be on a boat but it will be your dream and that’s what’s important. I’m know I’m inspired.
To find out more about Honey and Chip and to follow them on this wonderful and amazing midlife journey check out their website, Sailing SoundWave.
Leave a Reply