Firsts.

Drew and I have had a number of less than memorable firsts to be quite honest with you all.  I know that may come as a shock to those of you who are Drew and Melanie fans and know us to be completely perfect together...like peas and carrots, like Forrest and Jen-nay....but the shaky starts we have experienced in our relationship aren't issues between us, they are circumstance based.  

Rain/Storms.
Most often, when we start out on some new adventure, it will rain. Lots of serious rain. This has happened so often and with such consistency that those of you who know us will recognize the R in our signature HKR333 stands for RAIN.  We have always believed in the cleansing quality of the rain, literally and metaphorically in our lives, so we totally expect rain on this trip. We are not afraid of storms as we set out upon learning to sail the big boat or beginning the journey to live aboard as a whole.  In fact we welcome the experience since we know that weathering storms has produced this solidity we feel with each other today.

Naysayers.
Ugh. Well, we know this is our dream and we have come to the agreement that it is not for everyone, however we did not realize that so many of our friends and acquaintances live in fear.  Fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear for us, fear of having few material goods, fear of the ocean...Fear of being happy (I'll save this one for another blog)?? Some questions and comments we've heard follow:  You'll be eaten by sharks!, You are going to abandon your children? (our children want to come with us...and it may happen!), You could get lost and end up in Africa, How do you know where to go?, What if the wind stops?, Pirates...You know they have speed boats and machine guns now (my personal favorite - as if pirates are still on 18th century sailing vessels equipped with cannon and parrots), You won't have ice!, People in other countries hate Americans, You know most of those governments down there are unstable...and the list continues. We still have to put up the force field Star Wars style...it's ok.  We are good at it by now.  Whatever!

So this is another first.  Bring it on! We are excited and have a healthy amount of respect for the ocean. Drew knows boats and I am learning more every day.  Anywhere we are with each other is home.  So another first.  YES!