Overwhelmed

Now that our boat is safely out of the water, Scott and I can breathe a sigh of relief.  But don't let this fool you folks, this is the calm before the storm.  I am and always have been a sort of "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of girl.  I put my trust in the Universe and I just *know* things will work out.  However, our boat will not "fix" itself.  I am not, and will never claim to be an expert on boats.  In truth, I am far from it.  This fact, I believe, is both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing in that it allows me (and Scott) to dream freely and without the contraint of "is this even possible", a curse because - as my dad says - "I don't think you fully understand exactly HOW much we need to do to this boat to get it safe and ready to go by next year".  And he's right.  I don't. He rattled off his punch list of things - half of which involved parts or systems I had never heard of. 

This past weekend I was in Arizona with my mom basking in the warm desert sun and I got a call (the resort, mind you, was "cell phone free"...Shhhh!).  I hid behind a friend by the pool and checked the message. It was Jeff, the boat mechanic at the yard calling to say he couldn't start our engine.  Grrreeeat.  I wasn't too concerned because I know our boat is one of those old "quirky" ones that take a little nudge here, a little kick there and voila! - it starts.  Sure enough he got it going.  But a little while later he called back.  This time with a list.  A nice, lengthy list of things he'd like to see fixed, tuned, replaced and removed.  Awesome.  Don't get me wrong - we'll take all the input we can get - and we appreciate it, really, we do.  The problem?  Can you say, CHA-CHING!?  As I whispered into the phone (again, this resort was cell-free) that I'd take note and get back to him, I began to realize the magnitude of what lies ahead.

People who have bought "fixer-uppers" probably can relate.  You look at a house and while it looks a little rough around the edges, you know that a little elbow grease here, a little love there and some dirty work in between will make your home worthy of an HGTV episode.  But then reality sinks in and you find a leaky crawlspace, an unknown mold problem under the bathroom tiles, insufficient heating...etc. etc.  And here, all you thought you needed to do was update the kitchen the bathroom and maybe do some landscaping.  Pshh.  Puuuhhhleease. Well, that's where we're at.  All these little projects add up - and each of them take time.  From replacing the leaky faucet on our sink to "securing the wiring every 18 inches" to replacing every single hose to rebuilding the engine (this will be underway as of November 7th! Whoo hoo!) to fixing light switches to replacing instruments...the list, like the beat, goes on...and that's not even HALF of it.

But sweet little naive me just knows that it will all get done.  Because it will.  And we will do it.  We don't have a choice.  And I, being the "dive right in" type of person I am have learned that in life, when you have no choice but to 'git 'er done - you do just that. 

Love,

Brittany & Scott