People, relationships and what have you not

PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Fri 25 Mar 2011 23:26
It's been months since I wrote in the blog and here are
a few reasons.
1. When we started the blog we said we would never
write diary entries along the lines of, I got up, ate breakfast,
hauled the anchor, sailed, fished and so on.
2. My good friend Yossi Chelouche, who has been
following our postings, challenged me with the question, "Please write me a
little bit about your relationships with one another
in such a small space , give me some
juicy stuff."
3. You meet people along the way and make new
friends. You listen to their stories; after all everyone has a story which makes
the whole adventure so much more fun and you think to yourself- so
what's our story? What made us pack up our house and go?
4. And when I do try to write something personal, it's
still not so easy to do it in English.
Now we are anchored in the bay of a Peter Island, a
small place in the Virgin Islands. There are only two other yachts here. This
seems like a good time and a place to try and write something from the heart,
and hopefully set the record straight.
So here I go.
I met Chris more than 35 years ago. I remember the day I
fell in love with him. It was a day when he showed me his photos
from a trip that covered half the globe, and he was only
twenty years old! I loved
his eagerness for adventures.
I once heard a theory that the thing you like the most
in your partner is usually the thing that is most difficult for you to get used
to. But I did.
Chris was very fortunate to make a career out
of his desire for adventures and managed to travel a lot in order to
make a living. Most of the time he enjoyed it, however it was never
easy
for him, nor for me as the partner and the mother of our
children. I did still loved his stories when he came
back and brought some flavor from far away places.
Than came the sailing, a hobby we developed together
which slowly became a passion. Loving every minute of it. Cruising with the
children, with a racing team and with friends. We started planning our
adventure. Took us five years of intense preparations and here we are. We
have crossed the Med, traversed the Atlantic, sailed through the Caribbean
islands and will soon fly home for a two week break before starting the
next chapter; a long passage north to Bermuda and then to the
USA
The space we live in is not small, we have fewer clothes
and other everyday possessions than ever before in our adult lives. We
eat very sensibly, respect each other's requests, sail, explore new places,
go hiking, read, listen to music and play cards. We find ourselves doing everything together, including some things
we never did before like shopping for food!
On the whole it was worth waiting for the
opportunity.
I don't know how long this chapter of our lives will
last. I guess if we manage to see the children every few months we will be
able to do it for some time, as we really enjoy the life
and I feel very fortunate to be able to do
it.
We also have friends coming to visit every once in a
while, which is always something to look forward to and adds some more
flavor to our expedition.
Now we are enjoying our last few days of tranquility
afloat before we take Passepartout out of the water to have some work
done on her.
Nirit
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