Long time, no blog, or, Settling into life in the Keys

Kicking back in the Keys

Well jeez, where does the time go?

As we've settled into life here in Key Largo, we find the time picking up in pace again.  The last few years seem to have flown by in NY, then slowed waaay down when we were road-tripping, and we've now found a kind of happy medium.

Life in the Keys is pretty much how we would expect.  The people are laid back and friendly, and often a bit quirky (a good thing!).  There is rarely a time where shoes are required.  Most days see temperatures in the 70s and even into the 80s while much of the country has been in the miserable grasp of winter.  The water is a wonderful aqua-marine color.  Life does not suck.

I've been keeping mostly busy working at a yacht brokerage.  I've had great opportunities for sailing and learning more about boats.  I worked at the Miami Boat show, which was a fun, if not a bit grueling five days.  The business is a lot like being a real estate agent, which is something I was interested in once upon a time.  If anything, I find I enjoy and look forward to working much more so than I ever have before.

I have found a great sailing mentor in the owner of the brokerage.  He has sailed all over the world for decades and I've been fortunate enough to go on one delivery and a few day-sails so far.  So, I am learning quite a bit.

Trisha is working at a couple of places part-time and doing some babysitting.  For both of us we feel that even on a bad day, when we come home it feels like we are on vacation.  It's a great feeling to be able to go outside and launch our kayaks right off our dock and be out on the water.

We still find ourselves looking for a sailboat.  Right now we'd like to get something that we could take for long weekend trips down the Keys.  So hopefully we'll be able to post about that someday soon.

We hope that we are proof positive that no matter how stuck you feel, or if the economy is bad, or if you hate your job; you can break away and start a new life and live out your dreams.  We've met loads of people down here who have stories very similar to our own:  They come to visit and realize what they've been missing, and they don't go back. 

Throw off the bowlines and sail away from the safe harbor.  There's a big beautiful world out there waiting to be discovered.

Sailing in Biscaye Bay, off Miami on a new Beneteau 40

Kayaking in the Florida Bay

An old wreck off Vaca Key, near Marathon

Having a blast

"Living the Dream"

A typical hallway conversation at my workplace:

Person 1:  "How's it going buddy?"

Person 2: (in a dejected and sarcastically toned voice) "Just living the dream..."

I hear this too often.  Why don't we just stop?  If you aren't living the life you want to live, living your dream, it is time to change.

The problem is that most of us think we have to work for forty or more years and sock money away to get to the point where we can go live our dreams, some would call it retirement.  Somewhere along that journey we lose our youthful ambition and the daydreams we had as children.  The simple fact is that almost anything is possible with enough determination and initiative.

What I mean is, I can't walk onto an NFL team as a quarterback (one type of dream), but I can get out of the work-a-day life I have been leading and start living life on my own terms.  It won't be easy, and it will take some sacrifice, but what is leading the life you want worth?

Too many people are unhappy, or just content with their lot in life.  But they assume that is how it is supposed to be: you work, save your pennies, and then "someday" you'll get to enjoy the things you are truly passionate about. 

Part of the reason for writing this blog is to challenge that assumption. 

Maybe I am crazy, but I feel there has got to be a better way.  There's got to be a better way than driving thirty minutes to work to sit at a desk under fluorescent lights while staring at a computer screen for nine hours only to turn around and drive thirty minutes home eat and watch TV till you fall into a fitful sleep only to repeat tomorrow.

My wife, Trisha, recently broke free of that trend.  By renting our house and getting rid of much of our stuff, she was able to quit her job to focus on starting a business for us.  It's nothing too fancy, no dot-com start up that will turn us into uber-billionaires, but rather a seasonal concession business that we can hopefully work at for an eventual six month on/six month off schedule.

I'll soon follow her out the door away from corporate America.  Our plans now include traveling south by RV for the winter.  It would be better if it was by boat, but plans change and we have to re-evaluate our situation and adapt to the challenges at hand.  We are sticking with our overarching plan of heading south before winter sets in, and we are still going to be looking for boats, while we journey in our "land-yacht".

I'll leave you with a quote from Bob Bitchin of Lattitude & Attitudes fame:

"Don't dream your life, live your dreams"

Decisions are a coming...

Sunset over Lake Champlain from Burlington, VT

As of around 10 this morning, we have to move out of our house by September 1st.  No, it didn't sell.  We rented it.

We put it up on Craigslist last weekend and on Tuesday night we showed it to a group of young guys, about our age actually, who we have ended up renting it to.  We put it up for rent on a whim, just to see if there was any interest.  There was no need for us to sign today, other than to give us incentive to get moving.  To shake off the rust brought on by the stagnation of the past few months.

So what next?

Option 1) My work has offered me a transfer to Burlington, VT.  We have an office there that has loads of potential to grow, and they see me as someone who could grow it.  This option has a lot going for it:  Burlington is a great town, there are good cruising grounds there where we could hone our skills in the next year or two, I'd have the potential to make more money.

Option 2) Move to the Caribbean.  I know, its kind of like cheating to just move there without getting a boat and cruising there, right?  But we were talking about it and thought, why the heck not?  It's easy to move to the USVI, and if we go down in October/November there are bound to be plenty of job openings in the tourist industry.  Fun stuff like being a mate on a sailboat.  Or maybe we start our own little business.

Obviously option 1 is the safe option and option 2 is the "what the f**k do you kids think you are doing?" option.  But life is short, we (probably) only get one shot, so we have to figure out what is really going to make us happy.

No one can give us permission to go with either option except ourselves.  We just have to have the courage to sign that permission slip and hand it to the principal and go...

What do you do?

I've always hated that question.  You know, when you are at a party, or out to dinner with new friends, before long the question will come up:  So, what do you do?  Or, where do you work?

I've always felt that the question is so limiting.  I suppose its only natural for people to want to try to peg you down based on the stereotypes of different professions.  But its always been an awkward question for both Trish and I.

The expected and easy answer is, "I work in marketing at a mid sized A/V company".  More appropriately I might say that I sail, kayak, and generally try to enjoy life.  The questioner would probably look at me funny and say something like, "No seriously, what do you do?".

I'm not sure where the discomfort with this question comes from.  Maybe its just that I haven't found my true calling.  Or maybe that I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs.  More likely I think it is because I have come to value life and living above material possessions and status.

This post has mostly been inspired by a book I just read entitled "The Best Life Money Can't Buy", by Andy Deering.  Andy's answer to the question is: "I Live".  Andy and his partner, Lisa, have had some wild adventures including sailing the Pacific, and living through winter in a small cabin in Alaska.  At the heart of his book is the idea that life is short and the time we spend on this planet is finite so it is best to enjoy it.  Andy's personal sense of enjoyment and my own are pretty similar I think, except I don't want to experience any winters for a while after we get out of NY.

I'm sure there are people out there who truly enjoy their jobs and get real satisfaction when they tell people what it is they do.  In my experience they have mostly been people who have a direct and positive affect on other people, i.e. social workers, special education counselors, and teachers.  Maybe that is the answer.  Maybe if your work truly benefits others you will enjoy it the most.

As we embark on our great adventure I can't help but look to the other side of it and wonder where we will come out.  Will we find enlightenment that will lead us to our "path"?

On the other hand, maybe this adventure is our path.