Epilogue

Well, we have been home for a month now and I HAVE been working at getting the last of my journal

and pictures posted on the blog.  I still have many more pictures to add and they will happen over

 time.  We have been busy visiting friends and family, going to a wedding, and just acclimatizing to our

 home weather.  I would never had said we have a cold climate, but after wanting to wear sweaters for

 most of our time back so far, I may at least say that home is not as warm as the Marshall Islands.

(smile) We have slowly been catching up with our new friends around the world now.  This past year is

 one we will never forget.  I am happy that I kept a journal of our adventure and took my mother's

 advice on writing every day so that each day's emotions were captured.  I took enough pictures that I

 literally wore out my camera. J  We thank each and every one of you for everything you did to make

this trip possible and memorable.  The last few weeks have held many ups and downs emotionally for a

 variety of reasons and I am sure we will go through more.  Our lives have been changed by this trip.  I

 still hold true to two things:

• Life is a gift and we always get what we need, just the gifts may not come wrapped the way we

thought.

(We could never have imagined the gifts we received along this journey.)

 

• The greatest obstacle any of us has is ourselves.  Over come your own fears and apprehensions

 and you can do anything!

(I had never really sailed until this trip and I would say that after putting over 12,000 miles behind us of

 ocean water and an uncountable number of adventures and experiences, I think we can all proudly say

 we are sailors.)

 The percentage of those who own their own boat, who build their own boat, who go offshore with

 little to no experience, who cover 12,000 plus miles in one year of sailing and who are sailing in their

 30's and early 40's is very low.  As a friend once said about Jon and I, we dream and then we dream

 bigger!!

We will never forget.