SOLD! or in our case, Leased

The last (potentially) massive roadblock has been cleared!  We have secured a family to live in our house while we are gone.  It took nearly 2 weeks of negogiating and seemed more complicated than buying a house!  It was all worth it to have peace of mind this far out from our departure date of June 10th.  They have 2 little boys and want to paint our pretty girly rooms!  Oh well, I guess it’s a small price to pay.   Kate thinks it’s great because she wants a change anyway.  What?!  Those beautiful pink stripes took 3 days for Craig and I to do.  I hate the idea of painting over our hard work or worse yet, doing it all over again.  On the other hand, it’s been 5 years, so they’ve had a good life.  I can assure you of one thing, we won’t be doing stripes again! 

Having the house leased is a big deal.  I can’t quite put my finger on the emotions that I have been experiencing.  Frankly there are too many to describe in one, single, solitary word or even a few.  Do you have an hour?  The pragmatic side of me just keeps on moving, one foot in front of the other.  I cross one thing off my list, only to add a dozen more moments later.  Some days I am paralyzed with procrastination, not knowing what to do next but mostly there are not enough hours in the day.  We have a goal, and by golly, we are going to reach that goal!  The emotional side comes alive when I lay my head on my pillow each night.  It keeps me from falling asleep sometimes, even though I am exhausted.  Or worse, I wake up at 4 or 5 am and can’t go back to sleep because my mind starts racing.  Craig says that this will be the hardest part of our trip….all the planning, purchasing, preparing and provisioning.  Once we get on that boat, it will all be done and worth it!  Sort of….I feel like there is so much to be done that I can’t get excited.  Is that normal?  I know I am excited but right now, that is not how I would describe it.

Before we bought our boat, before we rented the house, way back when we decided to make this trip a reality, our list was very vague and broad.  Go ahead, take a look back to what our list looked like.   With each step toward our departure, our list becomes more precise with minute details.  Our list has gone from “buy a boat, rent house, research school options”, to the following (in no particular order):

·      Cancel homeowners insurance (June 9^th – the day we have to be out!)

·      Get new rental property home insurance

·      Secure movers and storage

·      Make a “book” of house information for tenants (where and how everything works)

·      Repair outside refrigerator (of course, the compressor decided to stop working last week!)

·      Hire chimney sweep

·      Hire carpet cleaners

·      Find a home for our trampoline

·      Have garage sale (actually, we have had 2 in the last 6 months and have made over $1000!!  Impressive right?!)

·      Research and purchase medical kit and prescription drugs

·      Get our necessary shots

·      Make copies of our passports and boat documents

·      Move our boat to St. Augustine, Florida

·      Purchase plywood for the attic (to store more stuff up there)

·      Purchase school supplies (finally!)

·      Meet with teachers and get supplies from school (finally!)

·   Get bike boxes (to store all 8 of our bikes!)

·      Review our will

·      Get life raft re-certified

·      Send EBIRB to get new battery

·      Sign up for DAN insurance (emergency life flight any where any time)

·      Cancel YMCA family membership

·      Cancel dental insurance

·      Finish ‘refinishing’ our patio furniture (why I started this, no one knows for sure.  But now I have to finish it)

·      Meet with our ‘house manager’ and go over details

·      Secure storage location for Craig’s car

·      PACK THE HOUSE!  (yikes, this is a biggie!)

·      Get the rudder repaired

·      Get the boat buffed and waxed

·      Replace the seacocks (these are valves between the inside and outside of the boat – these need to be in good working order so water doesn’t get in)

·      Buy fabric for the cushions we will have recovered while we are in Columbia

·      Buy sarongs and make “sarong blankets” for the girls (got this idea from Windtraveler – she said the tropics are too hot for regular bedding and this worked well.  I can do that!)

·      Buy charts for our cruising areas

·      Buy courtesy flags for countries we plan to visit

·      Buy cruising guides/travel guides

·      Sign up for SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association)

·      Get Maggie’s braces off

·      Go to final doctor and dentist appointments

That should give you a rough idea, there is actually more.  Stay tuned because there are many more nights before we leave.  Nobody said it would be easy!