MY 5-YEAR PLAN

Last year, when my life was going through it's changes, I decided on a 5-year plan. In 5 years, I would have me a sailboat, and move onto it. Well, my 5-year plan turned into a 1-year plan.

My friends, currently living on s/v Flatulence, will leave it behind and go cruising on their other boat. I went to see her yesterday, and it just felt right... I will buy her and move onto her in October. I'm so excited! Then it hit me... I have a 4 bedroom home full of "stuff". I do not want to rent storage, so it has to go. I have two months to decide what I can't live without.

This is a big life changing event for me. CHANGE has been the theme of my life for the past year. It has been good for me though. I have grown as a person, and asked myself many times... "why not".

I adopted the motto: "Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you will regret the things you didn't do, more than the ones you did. " #19 on the 21 SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. This was a poster that hung on my wall for 9 years, but #19 jumped out at me one day... about a year ago.

Before that day, I would always tell myself, "you can't do that". Now, when I have that thought, I ask myself, "why not?" If I don't come up with a good excuse, I do it. This is one of those times, I couldn't think of a reason to NOT live on a boat, but a lot of reasons why I should.

Getting rid of all this "stuff" around me, will be a little hard at first. I, in the past, was a collector. I would tell myself that I might need that, and stuff it in the attic. Of course, most of it was never disturbed again until I had to move. That is when I would purge. It is time to purge once more. This time, instead of looking for things to throw out, I will be looking for things to keep. I will ask myself, "how long has it been since you used this?" In a way, it will be "freeing". I have met a few people recently that have that gypsy spirit, minimalist type people. I am gravitating to that mind-set.

My Paradox boat, TARDIS, will be completed soon. I hope to splash her this month. That, along with my move on the water, will be the beginning of a new way of life for me. I will spend most of my free time... on the water. I've been asked what my plans are for TARDIS. My plans are to sail her a lot. I plan to take her to Key West, where my daughter moved. Sail her to the Bahamas next year ( from the Florida coast). There will be many weekend trips in her, and you can read about them all here. But first, I need to finish her. This weekend will be filled with varnish, bending a bronze rod, a little epoxy, a little paint, finding more lead, buying hardware.... and the list goes on. Hummm, where did I put that wine glass.....