Why we decided to sell our house and live on a boat....

Unless, this is your first time reading our blog, you probably know a little about how we came to living on a boat. We don't try to hide the fact that we wanted kids, we love kids!! In fact, we wanted to have children so much so that we spent ten years trying to make that happen, including numerous doctor visits, several procedures and approximately $40,000 out of pocket.  Long story short, life had other plans for us! 

In the 2-4 years prior to us buying our first boat, we had started talking about how cool it would be to live on a boat, when we retired. We looked at boats all the time! I'm talking, online, boat shows, TV/movies/blogs and more online. Joe was definitely more into it than I was, I still had babies on the brain, but the thought of warm air and tropical places kept me interested. The bug had bit us so hard that we started talking about taking a year off and going cruising, mostly because we didn't want to wait until retirement....we are so not the patient kind! But, we were still trying to start a family, so it always slid to the back burner. 

Rewind to a few years earlier and little did I know, my whole world would change when I was 25. My thoughts about life would be forever altered. 

My oldest brother died at the young age of 31 and it wasn't until his funeral that I learned he was actually talking about buying a sailboat. Sure, I knew when we were kids that he loved the outdoors and one summer in South Africa, him and a friend spent every waking hour in a little day racer where he learned everything he could about sailing. But spending his weekends crewing and possibly buying a sailboat?....I had no idea. I talked to my brother, though, apparently not often enough if I didn't even know this. But one thing about my brother that I think everyone knew, is, he lived his life.

Life and loss kept going, in the next few years, we had two miscarriages, my cousin died and my Mamaw passed away. Joe lost a couple family members and we both were given the harsh reality that life is short! No one knows how much time they have and yet so many people are perfectly happy living their life with the expected normalcy that we grow up with. Two cars, a house working corporate jobs and waiting for retirement before possibly doing any big traveling. Although now, most people have to go back to work, because their retirement isn't enough to really live on. 

One day, I walked out of my home office and looked into our spare bedroom, the room where I had many times, envisioned a nursery and beautiful baby(ies). I always thought {and dreamed, prayed, hoped and wished} that I would be a mother. Try as I might, that wasn't happening and in that instant I knew that if I couldn't fill up my home with babies & children, then I didn't want to live a so called "normal" life, in a house where every time I walked past that room, I saw failed attempts and sadness. I remember it as clear as anything, I walked into the living room and told hubs, 'forget about waiting, let's just buy a boat and move aboard'. 

Obviously, I didn't have to tell him twice. We rented out our house, lived in a rental for about a year, bought a boat and moved to the coast! Our life may not have been what I had originally envisioned, but I am thankful that we are living life and hopefully honoring my brother in some small way!