First...FORTUITOUS

FORTUITOUS

 

Defined:

·         Merriam-Webster online – 1) occurring by chance; 2) fortunate, lucky; 3) coming or happening by a lucky chance.

·         Google - 1) happening by accident or chance rather than design; 2) happening by a lucky chance; fortunate

 That is the name on the boat we purchased: FORTUITOUS. In big, blue and red letters, so no one misses it. I don’t like the name. I don’t like the way it is painted on the boat, but there it is, to stay, for now.

We could have changed the name, when registering with the Coast Guard, but that would mean removing those awful letters from the sides, which, it turns out, would cost more than we want to spend on cosmetics. We are watching every dollar we spend, preferring they go to travel, rather than worry about a name? FORTUITOUS. It’s not that bad. Right?

 Fortuitous is not quite accurate, though. It does have something to do with fortune, but it is more fortune through luck, or chance, like we won the lottery and decided to buy a boat with it. That is not right, we have sacrificed, and worked hard over the last 5 years to buy this boat and start this adventure. Are we fortunate? Yes, in so many ways. Definitely, but fortuitous? Not so much, at least not how I see it.

 Five years ago, (early 2008) we had a revelation in our own family that something needed to change. Like so many others, we had bought too much house, and it seemed we were spending all of our time and money working to keep up this fantastic, historic home, that we didn’t get to enjoy because it required so much of us. We needed to change our lives.

 I have chosen a partner who tends to have big ideas, and we don’t do anything halfway, so we (well, I took some convincing) decided that spending a year sailing around the Mediterranean would be a good change. Yes, it would, but making that happen would be hard work, and require a lot of compromise and creativity.

 We sold our home, finally, it was on the market for almost 2 years, which in turn pushed back our departure date by a year, and instead of buying a boat in Europe and sailing the Med., we bought a boat in RI, and are setting out to sail the East Coat of the US, and into the Caribbean. We did not find these delays and hurdles fortuitous.  But, we are persistent and dedicated, and though this is not the original plan, it is not a bad second.

 

In the meantime, we have all become quite good sailors, learning about sails, rudders, tillers, winches and blocks, also woodworking, wiring, fixing leaky hatches, windows, and whatever else is leaking, recovering cushions, repairing and maintaining diesel engines, I could go on for a very long time. There is so much more, and we haven’t even left yet!

 

What may be the most important lesson I have learned so far (and it has been a slow progression for me) is that I can do things, and I can mess them up, then I can fix them. This is huge. As one who has spent much of life trying to not get things wrong, I now see that it is okay to do just that. I can figure out what is wrong, and fix it, or ask for help to fix it. Everyone gets things wrong sometimes, and that is where much of the learning happens, in the fixing. Of course, I have always known this, but to apply that to myself and what I do is something new and fortunate.

 Perhaps there is something fortuitous in this adventure we are on? I am willing to give it a shot.

 

 

The Fowler Family arriving at the Albany Yacht Club in early June, 2013. It took 1 week to (mostly motor) FORTUITOUS from Portsmouth, RI to Albany, a trip we can drive in 3.5 hours. What an education that one trip was!