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| Taken in April, contemplating how I would eventually make my escape |
I have said many times on this blog, the difference between a dream and reality is "simply" putting a plan in place and working towards it. I have also said many times here, that while I had a plan, it was missing a lot of pieces. My whole thought since I stood on the bow of a boat in the Caribbean and said "I'm going to do this", was to attack the pieces of the plan that I could do here and now. I figured that if I worked on all the things within reach now, that eventually somehow the other missing pieces would eventually come to me.
It happened.
No seriously - It happened. A seemingly single event, set off a chain reaction that could not, and would not be stopped. I had optimistically pictured my plans coming to fruition (somehow) in a five to ten year time frame. Forget that. This is happening now.
Taxes. That's what it was. Taxes. In 2014, I got literally clobbered with taxes. That simple fact started a thought process and a conversation with a friend who is a charter boat captain. That conversation grew during a trip to our beloved St. John, where our friend came to meet us for dinner. That dinner conversation grew into bigger plans. Those bigger plans turned into a random phone call with yet another captain. That random phone call turned into that captain reading our story on this blog. The reading of our story here turned into a flurry of phone meetings and another trip down to the islands. That trip down to the islands turned into an amazing opportunity, with some great people betting on a couple young and hungry dreamers. Those great people betting on a couple hungry dreamers, turned into a complete plan - my plan with all the missing pieces finally filled in.
That amazing chain reaction of events couldn't be stopped. It wouldn't be stopped.
Over the past years I have struggled with my state of existence. I'm not "living" here, I simply exist. I get to live only during short periods of vacation and weekends that I can escape Connecticut. Existing here is nothing more than being in a rat race of continuous bumper to bumper traffic, inching ahead - there's simply not enough time for anything else. Sure, I have a great job and that certainly has allowed for a lot of things, but I'm not living. I'm not experiencing life.
At the same time, 2014 has taken so many loved ones away, far before their time. I watched a great friend take his last breath. I'm not sure I'll ever be the same after that. I came to the hard realization that life is short, and I'm not living. It happened - all the pieces of a real plan to start anew were presented before me, and I'm not letting it pass.
It happened - We're making our great island escape aboard a 50 foot yacht.
