My Life as a Web Mom

I am the mother of two kids, a daughter 15 and a son11, who often find themselves talking to the back of my head as I tap away on my computer. It’s my private mea culpa … more and more as the days, months and years go on, I find myself married to my dream instead of my family.

 

That is why, for the last 10 days, I’ve been in the Bahamas with my husband and our kids, having a good old-fashioned family adventure. (Thank you Typepad for giving me the tools to post these comments while I’m away.)

 

We’ve been hanging out with a couple who sold their house in Brookline, MA and gave up city life entirely last year to live on a 48 foot sailboat in which they cruise up and down the East Coast.

 

How did they do this? Wise asset management (they bought their house twenty years before they sold it, at a vast profit), and a goal carved in stone they couldn’t ignore.

 

How easy it is to near retirement age and look that far-off dream in the eye … and shrink from it. Exactly five years ago this very same couple – I’ll call them Ronnie and Ed -- announced their plan. And here we are, five years later, sleeping on the very boat they dreamt of.

 

Their dream has not been without trouble, of course. They found some dry rot in the hull and had to delay their launch by six months … after they’d already sold and closed on their house. So they lived in a rental and got along just fine. And an engine problem made their finances a bit more creative than they would have liked. But Ed found some unexpected consulting work that has eased money tensions nicely.

 

I’ll report back here on just how the vacation was … and how sweet it was to go on an adventure with my dear husband and my awesome children. I can’t wait to report back!