New

Well, here's my first ever blog post. I apologize right now to Carmen for telling her almost 2 years ago that I didn't know WHY someone would want to have a blog. Communication. Connection. I get it.

In a year of new things, this blogspot is one small, satisfying, somewhat manageable new---unlike hopping on a 42 foot sailboat and leaving all the olds in my life except my husband, and the saxophone I'm going to squirrel away somewhere. We'll be departing in September sometime towards the end of the month. It's not like having a plane ticket, however. We'll leave when we are as ready as we feel like we can get. Nomad is already strong and seaworthy, has lots of water and fuel storage. Anything else we get done will just be bonus.

"itinerant good"
I enjoy the name of our boat but the frequent use of it has already stolen some of the meaning I associate with the word, "Nomad". So, I didn't want to put that in the title. Itinerant is the suggestion the Thesauras gave. It's a good concept to summarize the next phase of our lives. "good" comes from a quote my mother-in-law sent a couple of weeks ago. Brian and I have been looking for a blessing or prayer that was a guiding purpose for Nomad and our lives aboard her. We've tried on and off for a year to write or find one. All the we tried seemed awkward or not quite right- too complicated or not enough. When I read the quote Sharon sent, I said out loud, "there's our blessing." I'd heard it before so it wasn't new but it was exactly the right timing and the right sentiment.

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
~ John Wesley

As far as we can figure, that is our purpose on our voyage. Without the help of God, it will be a paltry amount of good. With the Spirit, we hope to be guided and used as we are to be a part of more meaningful works than we could ever accomplish on our own.