lonnnnnnggggg day

I didn't sleep well the night before, as I was paranoid about sleeping through my alarm.  One of the pure joys of living on a sailboat in paradise, is that you seldom have to set an alarm to get up.  There is something to be said for simply waking up when your body feels like waking up, day after day  after day.  I'm so spoiled. Thankfully, traffic was not a problem, and we got to Miami Int'l with plenty of time to spare. 

Having 'handicap assistance' for Mom is definitely the way to go if she is ever travelling alone anymore.  She gets too flustered and anxious dealing with crowds of people, going through security, and trying to navigate her way through a gigantic airport.  She was as happy as a clam in the wheelchair brigade!  Knowing she was in good hands and was well taken care of also eased my own anxiety.  Except for a bit of delay on her departure time, she had an easy straight through flight to Indianapolis, and Stephanie was there to meet her, no problem :)

Biddi and I then spent the rest of the day power shopping in Homestead and having lunch at Panera's.  There were so many restaurants to choose from, that you don't see in the islands, it was hard to pick where to go.  We considered a progressive lunch, Long Island Iced Teas at Texas Longhorn, salad at Olive Garden, Chicken Tortilla Soup at Chili's, sandwiches at Panera's, and Krispy Kreme's for dessert!  We would have never made it back to the boat.  As it was, we both yawned so much, all day long, that I thought I would break my face.  We had some good laughs, and managed to accomplish everything on our list at Michael's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Walmart, the liquor store, and the new Dollar Tree in Islamorada. 

Two of the things on my list were a frame and command strips to hang Tayte's picture of Marquesa in my galley.  I love that he included so much detail...Windy the wind generator, a lobster pot ball, Cap'n and I, the fish in the sea, the seagulls in the sky and Willis T cat, too.  It's awesome.  Thank you again, Tayte (and Lori) for thinking of us.

We got home just in time for me to go to my exercise class, but I couldn't bring myself to go.  Instead, I did some push ups, sit ups, and dips at the dock.  Donnie ate a quick supper and then we went on a triple date to go see Zero Dark Thirty... 

Maybe it was the fact that I was tired, maybe it was the fact that I have not heard a peep from Carissa in several weeks, maybe it was my feelings about our present administration, or maybe it was just the content of the movie itself, even though I knew we finally got OBL, I felt wound up and half sick the entire movie.  Ugh.  I just needed to shed a few tears, go to bed, and call it a day.  It's too hard to watch those military movies when your daughter is on a deployment in Afghanistan...and we know so many, many friends who serve in the military.  I feel so grateful, so proud of them, so humbled, and yet so concerned for all that they have to go through, day in and day out, to keep my world in a better place.  In the next breath, I feel so angry and frustrated at our present administration and their lack of regard and financial support for those who do serve.  I hate war.  I hate conflict in general.  Tonight I just went to bed feeling conflicted. 

This is just another reason why I love cruising in a sailboat....to simply unplug and unwind from the rest of the world, to go ashore and explore some new uninhabited island.  It's an opportunity to just get down to the basics of life, and I need that.  My body craves it.  My soul yearns for it.  This was a number one hit the summer before my senior year in high school.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMkIuKXwmlU  I played that song over, and over, and over....who knew it would become so prophetic in my life?  I didn't begin sailing until I was in my mid-30's.  Life is funny like that.

Tomorrow is March 1, and it begins the official countdown and final planning stage for our cruise this year to the Abacos Islands in the Bahamas.  We will be leaving sometime near the end of the month, when the wind direction and weather is right.  After tonight, this girl is beyond ready.  The new list making will begin tomorrow.

G'nite , y'all.