I love it when a plan comes together

This past weekend Karina reminded me that it was Halloween.  Confused, I asked her how she thought I couldn't have noticed the date given the man skate boarding past us in a Spiderman costume.  “No Silly” she replied, “Do you realize we spent the first weekend on our Cal 5 years ago today?”  Oh right….  Karina is annoyingly exceptional at remembering special dates.
5 years ago to the date, we purchased our first sail boat.  A 1976 Cal 34.  At the time neither of us could possibly grasp our future but we had a plan.
Step 1:  Buy a cheap little boat with a good heart
Step 2:  Pour enormous amounts of money into it under the guise of “education”
Step 3: Buy an expensive big boat with a good heart
Step 4:  Pour enormous amounts of money into it under the guise of “safety”
Step 5: Leave our lives as we know it and go out and see the world
Sure we had a few bumps along the way, like forgetting to sell the first boat before buying the second boat.  Looking back it was easy to see how powerful a vision can be.  We had a goal, it united our focus and we achieved what we set out to do in the time period we originally discussed.
That first night in our Cal five years ago was a memorable one.  We went out to a pub and were served by a woman in an elaborate Peacock costume.  On the way back to the boat we were forced to keep Charlotte from jumping off the dock as the fireworks started 50 feet before the safety of our new vacation home.  It was a cold night so we snuggled under blankets with a small ceramic heater keeping us warm.  Then the boat briefly caught fire.
Yup, the journey may have been different than we originally envisioned but we are out doing what we planned.
Who knows what the next five years will hold.