Unexpected Departures and Choices

With John Urban in Italy, Christine heading on the Caribbean 1500, I am off to Cartagena tonight, delivering a Leopard catamaran to Colombia. This delivery is an unexpected trip for me. I was originally going to write about the raw data on my post this week to my blog Waves. But things change in life. One moment I am punching through my brokerage todo list, and the next I am packing my foul weather gear, sextant, and harness.

The situation makes me think of choices. I remember first discovering one of those books with multiple endings while in elementary school. You read a chapter and then make a choice. Do you fight the bully or run or tell the teacher? Then your choice determines which page you continue on. Jump to page 20 if you fight or jump to page 30 if you run. Every reader ends up with a different story, a different ending. This genre is a metaphor for how choices are in life.

I have heard it stated a couple different ways but it goes like this: there are a few choices in life that determine your future. I am not saying that's how my delivery to Colombia is, but it certainly does clearly set out a fork in my life. If the trip had not of come up and I stayed, what would happen? When I go, what does Poseidon hold for me offshore? When I return, what things will have changed?

And when looking back on these choices you can distinctly see the two separate paths, the one meandering off into the distances unknown, and your path, warmly beneath your feet. Looking back I always feel good about my choices. They have a familiar feeling like an old baseball glove. But I think I would feel the same warmth if I had made the opposing choice.

What choices have you made? How do you feel about them? I used to read those books with multiple endings and try out all the choices. I wanted to know what would happen to everyone. I wish I could split in two: one half stay ashore and the other sail off.

Please feel free to see the full dataset today or check back into my blog, Waves, next Wednesday for an interpretation of the yachting data in Fort Lauderdale and predictions for the future. You can follow me on SPOT.

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