I've started this blog to document what for my family may be a grand experiment that ends in a completely new approach to life or dismal failure and the return to "reality." About six months ago, my husband and I decided it was time to embrace the lifestyle we wanted and move our two kids to a 30' sailboat we keep in the Keys. Full time. For the next year, if we can stand it. Yes, living aboard on a 30' boat. Crazy, but we are going for it. So we put a plan in motion and here we are just two weeks from his last day at 'the job' and a couple weeks more from actually stepping foot on the boat.

So many loose ends remain, but I'm not deterred. We've been steadily ticking them off the to-do list for months now, despite medical issues, family emergencies and life in general. At some point, you just have to jump. While everyone else is caught up in the pursuit of "more," we are trying for "less." It's a lesson we want for our kids too. We're looking forward to a summer -- a year, maybe -- of experiences you can't get from the Disney Channel. If we make it through the tropical months, we'll be homeschooling the kids in the fall, hoping to take advantage of the flexibility that a non-traditional education brings. Ultimately, the idea is to make the boat -- and the requisite sailing experience -- the focus of our life, something that's difficult to do from three hours away.

We've owned our boat since before our son was born, yet she's been under sail with one of us at the helm only a handful of times. Time, distance, fear all combined to keep us at the dock. Not that that's all bad -- as parents and hopefully responsible sailors, we owe it to our kids and to the people who would have to come rescue our sorry butts in an emergency to be prepared. And that's what this year is about.

So, we're on the cusp. The real challenge for us, for everyone really, is whether we can live the life we say we want.