After much anticipation move day arrived on the 18 May 2018. Looking back I can’t really tell if this was a happy or sad day for me, there was so much going on and so much to do. Before move day I thought I would be very sad, as we were leaving a house we had loved & cared for for so long, with no plan to purchase a new one in the near future. I also felt it was filled with so many happy memories of our lives. Walking through the house for the last time I remember thinking back to something I read which went something like this – “the place you call home is not about the four walls you live within, but where you keep the people and items you love most.” As I walked around those empty rooms, I felt myself disconnect and think back to how true that line was. Our happiness was not about a place or a building, but about the time we spent together. The time together is what made the memories happy. This house was just a place we happened to be in whilst creating those happy times, and happy memories can be created anywhere! Leaving that house would never make the memories disappear!

We knew we wanted a major change in our lives, which is why we put the house on the market, we just hadn’t made that final decision as to what that change was to be.

All our things were packed up and moved across to a rental home up the road. The rental had more than enough space for us, in fact it had more space than we needed. It was in a lovely setting directly opposite the Weybridge cricket green, which meant we were very centrally located. It was a change – not a major change but a step that way. Knowing that we were not going to stay in the rental home longer than a year, we never really unpacked all of our boxes. In fact to this day I still have cupboards full of unpacked boxes upstairs. Just shows you how important all those material items in those boxes really are!

Life carried on, Shawn and I knew we needed to make a decision about our future. We were toying with the idea of moving down to Lymington to be closer to the sea, to a town we hoped would bring us the outdoor lifestyle we so craved. Perhaps we could buy a smaller house so that we could afford a small yacht we could take out on the weekends… The ideas kept flowing.

The sailing seed was planted a few months before, so it was on our minds, we were just a bit frightened to allow the seed to grow! It was so different! How would we make it happen, what would people think, would we be able to afford it. All these questions were playing on our minds. We spent the next few months following other families who were doing it, and researching the costs associated, looking into ways we could make money whilst sailing. I could go on and on about the research we did.

Eventually we decided we need to go and look at a boat. We had obviously been on similar sized boats before – but this time we would be looking at it with new eyes, and with our dream in mind. So we packed the boys in the car and drove down to Lymington again. This time to look at a beautiful Jeanueau 54DS that was for sale.

I think seeing this boat that day cemented our vision. All four of us were excited. We are talking about the pros and cons of the idea. For the first time our dream seemed possible and doable!

Now all we had to do was bring the plan to life and be brave enough to take that step, which will need to be a whole separate blog post!