By Mark
Once you put your house up for sale the inevitable question comes, “Where are you guys moving?” and it still doesn’t feel very natural to say, “We are moving on a boat and heading south”. The responses are almost always some form of, ”Why?” At first I didn’t like answering the questions, but it has actually become a great exercise for us. “Why” is a very important question that we may not ask ourselves enough. I think Socrates said it well:
The unexamined life is not worth living
While Erin and I don’t have an elevator pitch to respond with (although we should by now), we do have a list of reasons:
- Spending quality time with family while living close to nature
- Living a simpler life: less screen time, less activities to drive to, cooking and eating meals together…
- Having an extended adventure with kids while we are able to and the kids still want to
- Seeing parts of our planet that are in danger of disappearing
- Surprisingly, life is cheaper living on the boat (not that easy to get sushi dinners or order stuff on Amazon)
- To live unconventionally and appreciate things like hot showers and groceries stores closer than 8 hours away
- Giving our kids a topic for college application essay (ok, so not really a reason why, but could be an outcome!)
Last week, I talked to a friend who I haven’t seen in over a year and he asked what I was up to. I sheepishly explained our plans and he told me of an uncle who he visited recently in the hospital who had cancer. His asked his uncle to tell him one thing he learn over his life. His uncle responded, “I spent 40 years dedicated to my job; I wish I would have taken more time to enjoy my life.” That is it for us. We want this time with the family while Erin and I can still do it, and maybe give the girls an experience showing there is more to life than a cubicle and a well-funded 401k.
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