the best laid plans of mice and men.. from P

Let's play Jeopardy! The clue... "I don't know, we have to make decisions day-to-day." The correct answer... "What are your plans for the rest of the trip?"

We have abruptly interrupted our trip for a different kind of adventure. As I write this, I am sitting in the family waiting area at Sentara Hospital near home. I have been here for two days. My elderly father had a hip repair surgery performed a few days ago, and the shock to his system almost killed him. After three nights of emergency ICU care, he has now been moved into the "step down" unit and is slowly getting stronger. K is flying in today, and I am sure she will be headed to her parents' home to again help care for her dad for a while also. Senara is safely secured in a boat slip in southern Florida for a few weeks. We plan to fly back to Florida on the 24th and resume the sail, contingent on healthy parents of course. On the positive side, we get to see family, catch up with friends, catch up on mail, and take care of some (lots of) deferred maintenance around the house! I thought I would be glad to come home for a while, but I must confess - I feel like a visitor.

Another plan change (as of today anyway): We will likely not sail over to the Bahamas this trip. We love the keys, and we are just now getting familiar enough with the inlets, reef locations, marinas, provisioning stops, good happy hours, etc. so that we can now really enjoy all the natural beauty - and explore with confidence. We want/need another month there. We also want to sail out to the Marquesas and the Dry Tortugas (40 miles and 75 miles west of KW respectively). Serious adventure and primitive conditions! As an additional benefit, staying within U.S. territory allows us to communicate with home much easier, and get home more quickly if circumstances again dictate.

I have come to view our trip as a metaphor for our lives - conditions change by the hour, we have to be ready to change course quickly, always have a bail-out plan, and sometimes just hunker down. Nice surprises are all around us, and we always learn something when we push our personal limits. So our plans at this point are to adjust our sails, tack into the headers, and ride the lifts.