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Here's the
story and I'm sticking to it... We met in Calgary Alberta in 2003 and hit it off due to my incredible wit and good
looks (okay, Seth's mastery of chicken parmesan played a small part). However, everyone knows that a good legacy can not be
built on incredible wit and even the finest of chicken parm alone, so we got to deciding on a few things. First; we needed to take traveling to a new level and see even more of the world.
Second; that despite our best attempts, adventure was never designed to fit into a weekend. Third; that full time work is
for people that don't agree with the first two statements. We brought these opinions to life by creating a slapdash plan
that would require us to quit our jobs in order to drive the Pan American highway. We wanted to take a VW Westy (van) from
Calgary to Costa Rica. Without any logical segue to satisfy you with... Poof! This plan morphed into a sailing trip to
Costa Rica. Before we had really sorted out the consequences of that change, it inexplicably turned into a world circumnavigation?
Sadly, this has not been an isolated phenomenon in our relationship, there have been many other times when seemingly benign plans have swelled up and shifted shape into bigger badder versions of their
former good selves. Like that cute puppy that hooks you with one sad look from big brown eyes, only to later become the snarling
beast who reduced your couch to shreds and indiscriminately terrorizes innocent postmen and small children alike. It may very
well be a genetic trait, then again we are both divers so maybe it is just a result of breathing too much compressed gas. In any case, we couldn't figure out how to keep our big mouths shut about this, so pretty soon we found
ourselves boat shopping and raiding the sailing section in every used book store just to keep up appearances while we waited
for some reasonable person in our lives to show us the error in our ways and consolingly let us off the hook. Turns out that
we don't know anybody like that. Neither friends, family or employers tried especially hard to stop us, so it began to look
like we would actually have to go through with this slapdash plan... thanks a lot guys. Even so we didn't have too much to
worry about, yet. As anyone that has been to Calgary already knows that there's not much by way of sailing there
because there's not much by way of water there. Alberta is a land locked province which would make for a suitable
alibi when describing to friends and family why we couldn't possibly have gone through with this business. This satisfied
our need for an exit strategy suitably enough. Suitably enough that is until after one of life's little twists (aka: job transfer)
we found ourselves in Vancouver, British Columbia. Arguably one of the most beautiful places in the
world, BC claims 16,780 miles of Pacific coastline; which hosts, among other things, a thriving sailing community. Here we
went to boat shows, sailing seminars, navigation courses and sailing club meetings where the first thing we learned was to
totally lie about what we were planning.
Very rarely in pursuit of
ones dreams do you get the luxury of a crystal clear "Door A or Door B" type decision that requires you to commit
completely, or surrender the fantasy and take another path. But that's exactly what happened to us. In January 2007 Seth had
the mother of an opportunity. The kind you wait 10 years for, the kind you take. In this case it was the kind that called
for a move back to Calgary, and quite likely the kind that would set our life off on a very different course. While creating
a difficult decision, it really simplified things at the same time. Take the job, or take the plunge. Here we are. Our path was set. Pick a date, pick a boat name and pick a nose. This is when things really
started to get interesting. We were actually doing this, and we were going to leave in exactly 7 months. A flurry of activity
ensued. We had homes and the trappings that filled them to get rid of, wills to draft, diseases to immunize ourselves against,
pennies to save, a website to publish, plans to make, a boat to buy, a move to Florida to plan, and sanities to check. If
getting there really is half the battle, then this trip should be a piece of cake! |
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