Grateful this Thanksgiving

The boat repairs were finally completed in Thunderbolt Marine and we were ready to move south. Due to the uncertainty of boat life and especially boat repairs we had hedged our bets and made multiple reservations for Thanksgiving dinner.

Just in case we couldn’t leave the boatyard at all we had reservations in Orlando with some friends who were also celebrating a birthday that day, and we even had a friend invite us to stay at her house for the week.

Just in case the boat was done even faster than expected we had reservations with friends in Key West.

Just in case we were able to get started but not make it to Key West we made two reservations in Fort Lauderdale, one early afternoon, the second one late evening. However it ended up we had no where to stay in Fort Lauderdale because Las Olas Marina was full and their mooring balls not operational.

In the end, we had to cancel all of our reservations. We left Savannah, Georgia on Tuesday morning, at first light. There was no wind so we had to motor the entire trip. We ended up traveling all the way to Marine Stadium in Miami, arriving there 63 hours later.

Overnight we always have someone on watch duty. Kim did 6p-midnight, I did midnight-6a. I can go to bed and sleep at 6 pm no problem. Actually I pretty much can always sleep at any time. Benjamin did 10p-2a (although he usually stayed up till 4), and Aislin took over whenever Ben had to go to bed and stayed up until Kim was settled in the morning. We got into a routine, napping off and on during the day. When I plan crossings, I imagine so many things I’m going to get done– projects on the boat, pull out textbooks and practice my Spanish, play guitar, read a few books, and play some family board games. In reality, I don’t do anything. We are overcome by lassitude from the seasickness medication and the endless droning of the engines, and end up just lying around, napping off and on, and snacking here and there, accomplishing nothing.

The one thing we had not planned for was Thanksgiving dinner on the boat. But I grilled some chicken breasts and made a chicken and stuffing casserole, we had some green beans, and Aislin and I made some fresh homemade yeast rolls which were a hit. And we didn’t have any cranberry sauce so we drank cranberry juice. Overall the meal was a hit, especially the rolls. We celebrated just off the coast of Fort Lauderdale with another beautiful sunset in the background.

So much to be thankful for: time together as a family, safe passage, good friends who invite us to join them for Thanksgiving dinner, breathtaking beauty, and homemade yeast rolls.