View Point – It’s Changing

When we started out several months ago (or years if you count dreaming), I had a certain ‘view’ of how our time would be spent.  The summer is really winding down in the Northwest and the season changing.  It has been raining for the past two weeks.  So our enthusiasm for time on the boat is waning.  Perspective is changing too.  We were once excited to just be ‘on the boat’.  With the rain and the diminished outdoor opportunities, the space is small.  We will be working to put our ‘Big Girl’ to bed for the winter starting this coming week.  I’ll update the boat page with some of the details.

We spent the last month in Canada.  I’ll use this as an excuse to mention that it has been a long time since I wrote a post here.  There is the whole internet, communication, cell coverage problem, but really we have just been preoccupied.  I’ll let Beth write about the specific locations.  But to briefly outline the past few weeks, we had some friends spend some cruise time with us.  We also attended a Kady Krogen (the brand of our boat) specific rendezvous in a remote spot north of Vancouver, BC.  The highlight for me was a long run up into the fjord called Princess Louisa Inlet – majestic, beautiful.

It was at the end of this portion of the journey that I ran into an idea.  It has to do with perspective and how my view point was challenged.  Let me explain: sometimes seemingly random encounters get me thinking.  This occurred while leaving the boat at a small marina in Egmont, British Columbia.   We were out for a walk and this sign was hand written on a chalk board.

I don’t know who L. P. is, but he might be onto something.  I used to think that work was a four letter word.  Oh, I guess it is…  (You know what I mean – something bad – to be avoided.) This blending of voluntary work and REcreation is what retirement has gifted me.  The summary statement above simply rings true.   My work life tended to have sharp distinctions between ‘work and play’, so I guess from the quote I wasn’t much of a “Master in the Art of Living”.  But isn’t this the goal – this art of living?  Since retirement and living on the boat, there is plenty of work to do, but without the sense of compulsion or duty.  I truly love all the jobs involved with being out on the water. (Well, maybe not all the jobs… that can be a story for another time.)  It is a pleasure.

Is it possible to blur the distinction between work and play, labor and leisure, education and recreation?  I think so…  I appreciate all the more those who do ‘work’ because of a sense of duty and sacrifice.  This too is important!

Let me know what you think.

I hope this finds you well.

-mike