Another Winter Weekend - Part 2

Last weekend Alan and I had company...a lovely couple we met on our Dream Year trip (our one-year sabbatical from June 2008 - May 2009).
Charlene and I met outside a marina laundry room in Vero Beach, FL. She and her husband Steve had just returned from spending 9 months on their boat in the Bahamas. Alan and I were into the second half of our travels -- and were on our boat, much smaller than theirs. Hit it off immediately and via email and cell phone made arrangements to meet up a few more times along our paths boating up the ICW from FL to South Carolina.

We have so much in common... from our ages and the age difference between wife and husband (~ 5-6 years), our interests (for the men, sailing and woodworking; for us women, writing and the topic of sleep -- Char works in a sleep clinic; and for all four of us -- travel, adventure, good food, great conversations), as well as our -- re-immersions into our home lives.

Really appreciated talking to others both about the challenges (definition: to arouse or stimulate especially by presenting with difficulties)
we faced taking a year off -- that time of choice and preparation -- to the ones we faced coming home and reconnecting.
Easy to agree and shake our heads when talking to each other but still difficult to describe. Both Char and I HAVE THE INTENTION TO write more about our journeys and need INSPIRATION and STRUCTURE to do so before the memories slip further and further away.