I’ve made it home to Port Angeles. Everyone wants to know “what next”. I’m wondering myself, so I fall back onto my one day at a time, one mile at a time concept while keeping the goal out in front to act as a guide and think of my lessons learned.
The first great lesson of my 3366 mile trip from Two Harbors Minnesota to Happy Valley – Goose Bay Labrador is this: The journey is the adventure and the destination is the excuse. By stopping here I save a lot of problems that could have been show stoppers later. Let others be the Hare, I’m happy being the Tortoise.
It’s easier to stay healthy than get healthy. The first order of business here is to get to the gym to maintain my edge. I go to the gym just like it was my job. I’m not exactly a fitness nut but I am a believer in motion and once in motions it is always easier to stay in motion. And of course, hard work pays off.
As I moved into middle age, two things took me by surprise. One was that I have as much hair on my head as I have and two that I have remained as healthy as I am. When my work was finished and I no longer had to keep up an image, I stopped getting haircuts…just for the fun of it. And I kept up my exercise program. The pounds started to melt away when the stress of maintaining a career was gone. I don’t like to use the word “retirement” as it implies a stopping of activity. That is a dangerous thing to do, much more dangerous than solo sailing, from my observations of life.
My time home will be spent reflecting on the things I’ve learned. When I was interview by the young man for the CBC radio in Labrador, one of the things he ask did I feel defeated having not made it through the Northwest Passage. I could only smile and answer “Goodness no! Defeat would have been to have stayed home in the first place.” One who acts to make their dreams come true is never defeated. My experience is that once I do realize a lifelong dream come true, I must replace it immediately with a new one or even an old one revisited. It is a part of the human condition to imagine then act.
There are lot’s of things to be done between now and next year and I’m so enjoying writing about them. I want to revisit the comments and questions about the trip and maintain contact with the wonderful people whom I’ve met in person and by e-mailed. If in the cold of the winter to come you wonder what’s the old sailor guy up to, check in from time to time. I’ll let you know. If you have a dream, share it with me as I’ve shared mine with you. Together we can be a source of encouragement. And why not? In a world so full of doom and gloom, we should encourage one another.
