So easy for others

[Marlene Anne Sassaman]

Why does it seem so easy for others? I don't know maybe it is my faulty belief system. While friends of mine seem content with the trials and tribulations of renting, when the time came for me to rent I got cold feet. My financial planning, or more accurately, my discipline sticking to the plan, leaves a lot to be desired. It is just that sometimes I want it all and I want it now.

My boat needs minor things; namely an SSB transceiver which I decided is a necessity. Then, last week the alternator in my car died. Now, with the decision to take an 800 mile trek across the state to warmer waters and visit a friend, I need tires and a control arm. I probably need to leash myself to my home and dock, but - -t - t - t,,,,,,as long as I get the boat maintenance, i.e. paint over the epoxy repairs, clean the bottom, blow up the dinghy, meet with my electrical and ssb mentors, the trip is warranted. A girl has to have some fun, doesn't she?

What stinks is that I plan to sell the car by mid-January. The house goes on sale next week, so once I pack up, garage sale, goodwill, and trash the contents I can untie from the dock. Exciting, scary, and very weird. At 20 I drove cross country on my lil' 250 Yamaha all by my young self. Carrying only the clothes I was wearing, another pair of overalls, two t-shirts, and my Raggedy Ann doll I avoided the highways and saw some interesting sites along the backroads between Maryland and New Orleans where I eventually rented an apartment on Toulusse Street in the French Quarter. Somehow I survived.....so at my ripe old retirement age, I again shall embark on the voyage of a lifetime.

Who knows, I may have even found me a buddy boat,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

P.S. Thanks to all who wrote with words of encouragement!

[Kate O Donovan]

Good Luck Marlene Anne! May the best be yet to come. Stay safe!

[Paddy Delaney]

just keep going keep to your sail plan .......