The end of a dream...

Not us - we're doing fine, thanks.

You meet some interesting people while living onboard.  I like our little community on our dock - people are friendly and quiet.  Seems that most liveaboards know that sound carries on the water; the weekenders don't care about that stuff.  So, it's nice to be on a dock that isn't used for transient boaters.

You also see all kinds of characters on the docks.  Some, like us, live on a boat because of convenience - close to work, easy access to the store and restaurants in Friday Harbor.  Some just love the whole idea of living on a boat.  For some, it is this or being homeless.

The boat that we share a finger dock with is a derelict: it hasn't been registered with the state in a decade.  That doesn't really matter if the boat isn't moved.  The guy who lived on it passed away.  It took him several months to warm up to us - well, more like realize that we weren't going to go away and we weren't going to stop saying, "Good morning," and such.  Over time, I found out what he did for a living before a stroke retired him.  It was a lot of work for him to just get on or off the boat, but he had a system, and he was determined.  He occasionally told us who had the best soup of the day in town.

Don moved off the boat last year, so we didn't see him after that.

People often walk by the boat and say, "Wow, that is a mess."  Yeah, the boat hasn't seen any attention in the better part of a decade.  What's left of the canvas is in tatters.  The running rigging is rotted and the standing rigging couldn't handle any strain.  There is enough growth on the bottom that I think it is attached to the seabed.  Lots of mildew.  I know there is water standing in the boat.  The family would like the boat to just go away.

I recently had a guy wandering by ask me, "Does it bother you to be next to that?  Your boat is so nice and that... isn't."

"Bother me?  No, not at all."  No noise other than an occasional clank of the rigging in the wind.  I see that boat's situation as the end of a dream.  At one time, that boat was shiny and proud; the owner tall and equally proud.  I don't think any of us think, "I hope I get old and decrepit one day."  No, we think we are going to age like the people in the AARP ads.

But, circumstances cause us to change our plans and dreams.  I like living on our boat, but I know there is an exit coming soon.  We have other plans and dreams.

Just a reminder to get out there and pursue your dreams.