Twenty Years

There is a commonly cited quote among the cruising community as it succinctly expresses the inspiration and motivation of the cruising lifestyle, and no matter how many times I come across it it still always resignates with me.  It reads:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

(By the way, not Mark Twain’s words)

Today, though, I read it differently and instead of envisioning the next twenty years as I always do when I read those words, I reflected back at the past twenty years.  It’s Keith and I’s twentieth wedding anniversary which makes today my twenty-years-from-now cash-in day.  And I have to say…no disappointments. 🙂

It all started with us going to my junior prom together.  We went “as friends” but by the time he took me home for curfew we had given up on the “only friends” pretense.  I mean just look at how happy we looked-who were we fooling!  That’s us on our first date in 1993 standing on the deck of the Willoghby Bay Marina where we met and were both living.

 

We got married just two years later.  It was supposed to be in a beautiful pecan orchard overlooking the Chesapeake Bay but there was a tropical storm doing loop-d-loops out in the Atlantic so our wedding took place in a hot,  unairconditioned basement.   (Does the wedding photo makes more sense now?) For the first five anniversaries in a row we had a hurricane or tropical storm, it became our little joke.  One year we went through a hurricane in Little Creek, Virginia and I was still trying to bake Keith an anniversary cake.  The boat was rocking so badly that the alcohol in the alcohol stove poured out and when I lit it I caught the whole stove on fire and we had to use the fire extinguisher to put it out-just what you want when you have the boat battened up as tight as possible.  I don’t remember if I ever got the cake baked or not.  The point being, I guess hurricanes and anniversaries aren’t a bad omen for us, discounting the fire incident….which is really good because we kept checking in on Erika’s path today.  Eeeek. But, I’ll take her as a good omen for another great twenty plus years to come!

Twenty.  Still trying to wrap my head around that!  Wow have we done a lot together in those years.  We didn’t take any pictures today, but if we had I think I would have still had that smitten look on my face.😍 I’ve found the one I want to keep exploring, dreaming, and discovering with!

Happy Twentieth Anniversary to us!!!  

(Now go away Erika, we are doing just fine without you!)