Guest Blog II

We are at the Oriental Public Dock. See us on the web cam. You can see Tarwathie's bow sticking out toward the right side.

We'll be here two days. Meanwhile, my brother Ed wrote the guest blog post below. Since it is very flattering, we're publishing it :)

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This is Dick's Brother (and Libby's Brother-in-Law), Ed. I'm sitting in my office on Florida's east coast, waiting for the rain to subside enough so I can go home. I love Dick's blog, and decided to read it. It's been most entertaining lately with drunk skippers and inept power-boaters (as I would categorize myself!).

Anyhow- it got me thinking about Dick and Libby's retirement choice. Mine seem more limited day-by-day, as I watch markets dive, but reading Dick's accounts always lifts my hopes that perhaps, someday, Sally (my wife) and I can find a retirement lifestyle full of new sights and activities. I admire them, and all you *cruisers* like them, who have traded convention for voyage; safety for adventure. Bravo!

It's even MORE striking as I come to this same office every day, working at the same desk, on the same computer, on the same software. What small forays I have into intrigue would be to learn a fancy new Perl (my programming language of choice) guru-trick. Not very exciting to most, but the *true engineer* inside me sees it as Art, not Science. In fact it was Dick who introduced me to "The Art of Computer Programming", our Bible of sorts, and I never looked back.

Curiously it was also Dick who interested me in engineering in my youth, and now, having spent 30-odd years in the profession, I can BLAME him! Ha! But its also curious that as retirement looms for me, again, I look to Dick as a beacon. I know I'd never drag [my wife] Sally onto the water as a lifestyle, but there are still other adventurous avenues open to us beyond days of Oprah and The early bird special. We'll just have to figure out which work for us.

And some struggles Libby related- moving away from Grand kids, I can see popping up for us soon, as I'm about to be a Grandad. I can now grasp the courage it took for those two to venture out when life said STAY PUT. I feel that exact same struggle within me emerging. It's most disconcerting because already, even before baby is here, we're busily readying her room. Getting entrenched, as it were. I feel like I waited a lifetime to see the world but a tiny slice of the world will be the only real option. But I hope that's not so.

In the end, I may be relegated to living vicarious adventures through this blog, and only allotted occasional adventures. Sally, being the consummate homemaker, would be a tough nut. And adventures without her are not adventures. We'll see.

Keep up the blog Dick- well done. You're inspiring me (again!)..

Brother Ed
October 2008