To leave a context
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Sun 28 Jun 2015 20:39
This time Im going to step out on thin ice. I've promised several to continue writing about life after the cruising part...
Today I am going to write about the transition itself, the part where we are right now, some kind of no mans land.
First you decide to go, as preparation goes for about three years it all comes down to a period of intense packing the last things and
then move into the boat itself.
As you take off you leave your context, and move into the uncomfortable zone.
Uncomfortable because you know little about it and I remember being just us, before we met a group of long haulers like us.
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For Swedish readers I looked up "sammanhang" in Norstedts dictionary:
samband connection; text~ context; logiskt ~ consistency, coherence; obrutet ~,
följd continuity; komplex, [sammanhängande] helt complex, [connected] whole;
han fattade hela ~et …the whole situation (thing), …how it had all happened (come about);
ordets betydelse framgår av ~et …from the (its) context; i detta ~
i samband härmed in this connection; i detta avseende in this [matter]; framträda i offentliga ~
appear in public; han är mogen att framträda i större ~ …ready for greater tasks (om skådespelare roles);
se saken i ett större ~ …as part of a greater whole, …in relation to the whole (to its background);
se saken i dess rätta ~ …in its proper context; i vardagliga ~ in everyday situations; brist på ~ äv. incoherence; ett citat utbrutet ur sitt ~ …
detached from its context; lyfta ngt ur dess ~ detach (take, lift) sth out of its context; ord utan ~ vanl. isolated (disconnected) words
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For those that do not speak Swedish I can only say that there are a lot of words expressing what Im trying to say here.
The word context might be a good one, it might not, but whatever Im trying to say is that we all, or most of us live in a context.
It might be within family, work, friends etc. It is all a layer of connections that make us feel important and alive.
When you leave all these connections because of a transition there is really a feeling of taking off on a ocean towards a horizon that
does not reveal what's beyond.
Right now we are working like mad to pack our life and put it in square boxes, to clean out the boat for the next owners that might use her like we
did, as a mean of transportation - for life.
Or not.
In this hard work we have to switch on the autopilot, there is no emotion going about, you just make one decision after the other- that is a throw away, that goes with the shipping, that has to fly with us etc.
It is unbelievable how many things a family of four use today- we are no nomads- unless your idea of a nomad is some sailing in a 17 ton heavy boat(thank god 16 of these tons stay here).
I think a real nomad has to be able to carry all the stuff in one hand, leaving the other to defend themselves.
Anyway, this transition also means that you are leaving all the friends behind, friends that sail on, of course you say we have to stay in touch and email is great for that.
But just as the transition from landlife to sealife screened some friends out and some stayed- I can see that we will have some for life and some will become memories.
Why is that? I think that in a context it is easy to be empathic with the ones in the same situation. When you are out of it most people find it harder to keep up the interest, to be curious about
the other life. It takes more energy to try to imagine what life is on "the other side". It might also be threatening as you are not fully comfortable where you are.
To leave a context can be so much more then sailing off- it can be a divorce- to be kicked out from work. You loose a network and hopefully gain another.
But the best friends stay with you, the ones that had more layers than just the context itself.
Whatever you think of the hard work- a transition makes you feel alive- it brakes the routines in life, and suddenly you can make one monday apart from another.
Today I'm picking up the camper van and look forward to some vacation (do I dare to say this?).
Can you believe this? We have now been through the entire boat, opened every
floor, cleaned everywhere and found 2 small spider the size of 0,5 mm. That's all!
On a boat that has been in the tropics for over 2 years I think it is amazing.
But we can thank Ellinor for that, she has been the toughest when it comes
to clean all food and packages before coming on board.
The other secret is to stay out of land with the boat and use the dinghy as a transition where you keep shoes etc. When they come on board they get cleaned, brushed etc.
When you have lines ashore protect them with cut off plastic bottles to stop animals that like to crawl on them...
Oh yes we have heard horrifying stories about people chasing rats on their boat (I think thats when a boat really feels very small), or invasion of cockroaches that are almost 2 dm long!
Enjoy your life today!