Thoughts on leaving Puget Sound

Shilshole in our wake

As we sit here at anchor in Port Madison for what could be our last nite in Puget Sound for some time to come, I realized that a change had come over me.

At Shilshole, we had neighbors and friends, we knew where to buy anything that you might need for a boat, we knew the roads and streets, and we even knew where the potholes were.  And we were comfortable.

But as we crossed the Sound, there was a change.  Yes, there was the understandable nostalgia.  And the excitement and the disorientation  of new beginnings.  But there was something else:  a pulling in, a recognition that now we had to depend completely on ourselves.  For dealing with cruising issues of course, but even more so we now need to depend completely on each other for friendship, for companionship.  We are now self-contained.

We've done it several times before in our marriage; after 42+ years and several cross-country moves this is not a new experience.  But since we have lived in Seattle since 1997, it has been quite a while since we have been in this emotional space.

It is good.  We were too comfortable.

Thoughts on leaving Puget Sound