The second of 4 siblings I was born and brought up in the first decade of my life in Herefordshire, in the Welsh Marches.  I am the only girl of the bunch and possibly my rebellion against following the expected route in life is from being the “odd one out” of the four of us.  Perhaps this enabled me to be more forthright and determined not to follow the crowd, and to tread my own path.  Whatever the reason, here I am in the late Autumn of my life living on a small boat, bobbing on the sea!  

 

I am not sure where my love of adventure came from, maybe it was from always believing that I could do anything I wanted to, if I put my mind to it and from my dogged determination not to be bested by the trivial hurdles in early life!  When I “ran away to sea” at the grand old age of 46 it was the start of my best adventure to date!

 

I have always thought I could do anything until I was actually doing it!  Then often I am crippled by self-doubt, lack of confidence and fear.  Of feeling unworthy and a poor imitation of the ‘real’ people.  Now, however, when those doubts and trepidations raise their heads and whisper the self talk of judgement and ridicule, I shake them off and say….”bugga it! I’ve got this!”  

 

My father had a beautiful speaking voice as well as a love of poetry and it is thanks to him that I feel it in the oceans of my soul too, I remember at my first wedding, he wrote his entire speech in rhyme no mean feat and I have it somewhere in my mother’s loft back in England.  My tenacity and dogged determination, I believe I owe to my mother, and for that I am grateful.  She never gives in, she refuses to feel sorry for herself and quietly ‘gets on with living’.  Although I don’t do the quietly thing very well, I too refuse to give up, even when the odds seem stacked against me, because at the end of the day, this life, I believe, is all I have so I might as well make the most of it.  

 

I feel I have lived a charmed life, not always easy, but charmed nonetheless, I am grateful for that, and for all the glorious beings this life has allowed me to meet, every single one has left something of themselves behind and brought me to where I am today.  

 

So here we are, a page on the internet a little boat on the ocean with a cat and a few words to spill across the page, join me here if you will, enjoy what I share of my life, and should you see me dragging my little dinghy up the beach, anchor near me in a bay, or hear my laughter across the room (apparently it is quite distinctive) then give me a wave, or come and say hello.  It would be lovely to meet you.