Sailing Positive Waves

Matilda, challenging herself on a blue trail. (Blue in Sweden is 2nd level. Their ratings go: green, blue, red, black.)  Ski Week!  About a year ago when we were living on land in Texas dreaming about what our first year of cruising would look like, we envisioned actively cruising up the Norwegian coast throughout the winter. (Hans may have watched one too many episodes of Alluring Arctic on youtube.) Save the first three years of Freja's life and a couple trips to Sweden and Vermont in winter, our kids have basically grown up in the semi-tropical climates of Florida and Texas. We were excited to show them real winter: snow, skiing, ice skating, shoveling, snowball fights, frozen fingers and toes, and hot chocolate. Then, global pandemic. But coastal Sweden doesn't get much, if any, snow. Since we couldn't show the kids snow from the boat, we booked a week-long ski vacation at Åre, a mountain resort in central Sweden on the border of Norway. So, a couple days after returni

A few nights ago we stood at the highest point on an island on the west coast, about as far west in Sweden as you can get, and greeted 2021 with fireworks, cheers, sparklers, champagne, and, most importantly, friends. In reality, we were about ten minutes early, but after a year that made us question so many fundamentals of life that we take for granted, jumping the gun by ten minutes didn't seem like a big deal. Goodbye 2020 I have mixed emotions about 2020. My life changed, certainly, but it was manageable (at its worst) and wonderful (at its best). There was, however, a constant undercurrent of what ifs and a much higher than normal level of uncertainty. Although the news didn't acutely affect me on a personal level, a daily read of the newspaper was distressing to say the least; it's hard to stay positive and hunky dory when a large percentage of the population is grieving and hurting. However, compared to the majority of the world, 2020 was a good year for us. Hans