Britanny and Scott

So our plan: sail ourselves south for the peak hurricane months of August and September and haul our boat in Grenada, where storms are "" less likely to strike (knocks on wood). This way, we can enjoy time back with friends and family with relatively little stress ( watching hurricane Irma on her death march to our home was pure agony) and our boat will not be a sitting duck in the water. Scott and I would have a chat, he'd convince me that all would be fine and it would be fun, he'd beg me to come with the girls, and then I'd say,Two days later, doubt would creep back in and I'd back out again. I suspect a nice chat with a therapist could uncover that, but ultimately, after talking on the phone with my sister and best friend no fewer than thirty times combined, and going over ideas and scenarios with Scott, I - at Scott's urging - looked at my options and thought to myself:Would I regret not flying home a little early to see friends and family while Scott sailed our home south, or would I regret not taking this opportunity to show our girls an adventure, do some traveling, and spend some time at sea?

The self-proclaimed island of theI'm here because my fellow island sister, Riselle, of Travelling Island Girl organized a familiarization trip with the Nevis Tourism Board, and I was chosen to join her (insert happy dance). She's one of Nevis's local agro processers and makes jams and jellies from her home. Pub crawls haven't really been my "thing" since,, 2001, but when a guy like Patterson invites you on a tour of some of Nevis's local rum huts (read: off the beaten path), you don't say no. Aches and pains or not, this is a definite must-see on and a unique little experience uniquely Nevis (sadly not for kids, way too hot).Of course the tour had to live up to it's name ("s") and we were treated to a few monkey sightings which elicited squeals of delight.

It's 10:24 am and I have but one precious hour left of time before having to get the twins from their preschool . THE ONLY ONE.I want to take pictures of their creations and scribbles as keepsakes for them, maybe set up email addresses for them to act as a time capsule where I send them cute things about their lives and their days It's not one of my better traits, this tendency to stand like a deer in headlights in the face of a mountain of tasks. I will lament hours wasted agonizing about things that don't matter, days like this.

It might not seem like a massive announcement in the grand scheme of things, but getting our flailing business back up and running (we lost both our day charter boats to the storm and have been income-less since) was the last piece of the "Irma puzzle" we had to put together to resume life as normal. It's a laughable concept - "as normal" - because life here after hurricane Irma is anything but "normal"... so much has changed. I have always wondered how people in war torn areas were able to live day to day, marveled at the horrors of history such as concentration camps and how people persevered, and my heart breaksat the thought of losing a child and how parents (like my own mother) go on after such utter devastation ... while our situation absolutelyin comparison to those above, what I have learned is that people are often stronger than we think. Our new boat is here meaning we finally have a place to call our own again (stay tuned for a tour and pics! ), our beautiful new (to us) daysail boat for Aristocat Charters is up and running (and arguably better than our other boats! ), and life is beginning to feel more "normal".