November 27, 2022 - December 3, 2022
Week five began with a road trip to St. Petersburg to visit my friends Matt & Rachael. I’ve outlined those adventures in my Travelogue: St Petersburg (part 1 and part 2). Though the week started on November 27th, this post recounts activities beginning December 1st, midway through the week. Her’s what happened, what I experienced and what I feel like sharing about my time in Fort Pierce this week.
I arrived back in Fort Pierce just in time for Wednesday night bible study and evening worship at Common Ground Vineyard Church, which has become my church ‘home’ while I’ve been in Fort Pierce. I squeaked in the door of the church just a few minutes past the starting time, and was so glad that I opted to attend, despite showing up a few minutes late. As always, the topic and discussion was engaging and thought provoking.
As much as I/we enjoy Fort Pierce, we are hoping this will be our last full week here. We’ve pushed up our departure date and hope to begin making our way south sometime early next week.
I’m finding it more and important to write down what’s happening because life here is very fluid and sometimes feels timeless; something will resonate so hard with me (like a discussion in the bible study) until I get swept up in something else and forget to take note of what I had just experienced.
The absence of cold and snow makes it hard for me to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already.
Correction: It’s hard to believe until I leave the boat and go ANYWHERE in the Marina or surrounding area, where Christmas revelry and decorations abound in every direction.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday wrapped up the week with Friday Fest on Friday evening and the Famers Market on Saturday morning.
I’m at a point where I have a few favorite booths at the market. One of the booth offers freshly baked bread- if we show up right when they open in the morning, sometimes some of the loaves are still warm. Along with a variety of breads, they also offered muffins and scones, so it’s became a favorite Saturday morning routine to get a muffin or scone, usually cranberry orange, before ambling back to the boat.
We’ve also gotten in the habit of picking up one baguette a week to slowly work through in the evenings when we are binge-watching Grimm. (Paul makes a fantastic oil, parmesan & balsamic dip and I love fresh bread!)
Lastly, we appreciate shopping at the booth of one particularly cute elderly couple who offer fresh veggies (that last!) at a reasonable price. While i like to support local vendors, it became discouraging to buy things (at twice the cost of the grocery store), only to have them spoil in just a few days time. After this happened several times with avocados, we stuck to just buying them at the grocery store.
Beyond my trivial first world problems, I am… content. And I’m still taking time to notice the beauty in the electrical boxes and benches I see everywhere!
When I think about how things are different, I realize that a year ago, I was cross country skiing in Anchorage (after work in the evenings or on weekends afternoons) with Mel and the other ladies of our ski group. Now I’m walking in the 70 degree weather in Florida. I miss being with all of them, (especially Mel, Charity, Kristie, Lesly, and Kayley), so it’s nice to have met some ladies here to walk and talk with.
Am I any closer to figuring out what my next career will be? No.
Do I know where I will be settling permanently yet? No.
Do I even know how long boat life will continue? Nope.
It is an adventure? Yes.
Are there moments of uncertainty? Definitely.
Would I do it all again? Yes.
