I just read an article by one of our favorite people, Patrick from Bumfuzzle. The article was on “How to Write a Sailing Blog”. I just love Patrick’s candor, wit and sometimes bluntness. Rusty and I started this blog mainly because our families thought we had lost our mind to leave land life and go cruising. They were convinced that either pirates or sharks would “get us”. We purchased our Spot and started blogging. We found we loved to blog i.e. journal. It was fun to share our adventure and it was really fun to hear from folks back home while we were gone. Since we have been back I have felt ambivalent about blogging. We are in contact with our families and I keep in touch with our friends through Facebook.
I realized after reading Patrick’s article that I really miss my daily journal and it is okay for me to write just for me. I love to hear from others and it would be awesome for others to “comment” but I do enjoy going back and looking at previous post just for my own enjoyment.
So hear goes. This past year has been a very hard year. We had left Sea Yawl Later!! in our home port of Brunswick, Georgia last year and rented a condo in Kemah while Rusty replenished our “cruising kitty”. That decision turned out to be a bad financial decision for us. Our life is too fluid to obligate ourselves to any kind of lease. We ended up paying 7 months of rent when we actually needed the condo for about 3 1/2 months. Then several things happened. One good, several bad. Our daughter, Erin, got engaged at Christmas and set a wedding date for August 2012. She and Michael decided on a destination wedding in Destin, Florida. Initially, I thought we could still go cruising in 2012, do most of the planning online and fly back home when necessary. Then my step dad’s health deteriorated and it became clear we needed to be home. In January of this year we started bringing “Sea Yawl Later!! back to Texas. In March Daddy Joe died and six weeks later my brother, Wayne, died unexpectedly. Daddy Joe and Wayne were in charge of my mother’s care. Mom has Parkinson and senile dementia and requires round the clock care. It has been a mess because both Daddy Joe and Wayne had Power of Attorney for mom but they are now both gone. Wayne was also the executor of both mom and Daddy Joe’s will. I was finally made Administrator of Daddy Joe’s will but still found myself hamstrung because all of their accounts are joint. Check your wills folks and keep your Power of Attorney’s current and several people deep.
Mom was admitted to the hospital a couple of days ago with a nasty lesion that developed from deep inside the muscle. She will need wound care for many months. We are very fortunate in having a lady who has been her primary caregiver for several years and she is amazing. Marie will continue taking care of Mom, what a blessing. Mom will probably stay in the hospital getting IV antibiotics until Monday. I have been at the hospital for the last two days but she is doing well so Rusty and I will go to Buna for his High School Reunion.
So today I will go to Mom’s house to do a few things and then come back to the SYL to pack. Tonight we will go to Beaumont then Saturday we will go to Buna, Texas. SYL is in desperate need of organizing. I still haven’t figured out how to keep things organized with our current fluid land life. Usually we are cruising or preparing to cruise. We currently don’t know what we are going to do past February. Rusty will be working in Texas City through February. After that…..who knows.