Could you live on a boat?

Sail the Seven Seas? Visit different ports of call? Be a parrot head?

We spent the day on some friends boat recently just relaxing. The water was a little cold for swimming but that did not stop the munchkins from diving in and testing the chill factor themselves. The family that we went with is looking for a larger boat to retire on. Totally unlike me, I would sink the boat with all the things that I need. It did get me to thinking.

I keep wondering if I could give it all up and sail around the world. I get cold feet when talking about orders and moving terrified that I will end up on the other side of the world. We are so close to my family that we have made decisions and request on where to live based on location to home. We love the relationship that the kids have with all of the their grandparents. Could we keep that up if we are so far away? What if something happened to one of them while we are away, am I robbing my kids of getting to know their grandparents. Will they have the relationship that I had with my grandparents? I would not know how to cook if it was not for my grandmother.

Back to sailing. It would be fabulous for us to wake up to the beach everyday. Walks on the beach at sunset are our family favorites. Swimming in the ocean for the better part of the year would make my kids happy. IMAGINE the education they could get from visiting other countries, islands, and communities all from your sailboat. Home, school, sanctuary. Is it more important to have an address to call home or a place to call home? Hmmm? My cousins are miltary brats who are raising their families in one place now. They tell everyone that they are not from anywhere, sometimes that makes them smile and sometimes that makes them sad. The truth is that neither one of them had an interest in anyone military related and I think it was because they were tired of being nomads. Me, I am still excited when it come to moving. Always tired, but excited as well.

So choice is not left for me to make, but I can control how I react to it. Dread and contempt will breed the same in my kids, just as easily as excitement and daring adventure. O by the way, that is not their boat, but they are dreaming about it.