Six months.  What do I have to show?  Something much less than what I had hoped.  My Spanish is coming along, but mostly I float on the safety net of the locals prevalent English.  I put a Ukulele on board and have learned how to chord a few songs, but have yet to pull it out of its case when anyone but Georgia is listening.  I’d planned to start a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course so I could work somewhere along the way, but haven’t even registered to receive the materials yet.  Most importantly to me, I haven’t written anything to speak of but this blog since I left.  I’d looked to writing as a possible career as I sailed from Kemah, Texas, but I haven’t yet put a single article together.

I’ve been told by other sage cruisers to give it a year before you really start to settle into this life.  I’ve taken easily to the boat bum portion, but have decided it’s time to rededicate myself to the goals I set before I left that will really make this voyage worthwhile in the long term.  As it turns out, I am a creature of routine and have missed something of the stability of shore life.  It’s time to integrate the stability of routine into the transient cruising life.

I never knew my mother’s father and growing up it was hard to relate to the stories I heard of the man having no memory of him.  One thing I do know is that he often took pencil to paper and the short works of poetry  still hang neatly in the halls of the home where I grew up.  Poetry has always eluded me, but for some reason the short piece below was itching to come out a few weeks ago.  I finally feel like putting it out there.

Tranquil she can be

But not always for me.

I chose to ride the water and wind

But I knew from the start it was me who’d have to bend.

This lady the sea

Has taught me how to live free.

But I would trade it all to this day and more

To live free at peace with another ashore.

Why can I learn my lessons afloat

Alone with the horizon on this tiny boat?

With no one else with whom I can interact

The demons and delusions of my past turn to fact.

Be it wind, rain, swell, or calm

I never question, but simply continue along

Without judgment I accept her all,

But if she holds my heart I put up a wall.

Why risk my life but not my heart?

I think it is time I start.