Location: 7*27.488'S 60'58.205'E
I’m not really sure where to start, for so much happens in each of our days, but it is all so hard to explain to anyone on the outside. I could talk about my morning watch, the nap I took after watch, our lunch, our daily jobs, the swim we got to take at 4,500m, and our dinner, but that wouldn’t tell you anything. The significance of what goes on aboard Vela has nothing to do with the routine, the activities, or the classes, but the minuscule amount of growth we succumb ourselves to each and every day. Over the past few weeks, morale was a little hard to keep up, especially when we kept getting told that our passage was getting postponed one… two… three…. weekdays longer. Although, a few days ago was when I personally found that minuscule amount of growth from so many previous days build up to enough that would change my whole attitude toward the trip. I found that I had really allowed myself to be present, fully, and immerse myself in what is right in front of me. Such that when I am swimming, I am swimming, when I am studying, I am studying, when I am laughing, I am laughing, and so on. Seamester is a special experience because it forces you to be present, it forces you to be here now, and it forces you to push yourself every day to be something more, someone, more than you were yesterday. This makes the end of our passage a little disappointing in a way. For once, we have really begun to master the high tides. They go down once again. But hey, that’s life.
Tonight at the squeeze, I asked the question, “where do you want to be at the end of your life, and where do you not want to be at the end of your life” and I wasn’t surprised to find out that we all seemed to want to be in the same place: happy, surrounded by people that we loved, fulfilled, and have made a positive impact on the people and the world around us. With that being said, we have this incredibly unique opportunity to work towards a goal with 30 other people that also have the same goals. We have a choice in which we can choose to bring each other up or bring each other down, and though tomorrow is day 45 (which means that we are halfway through our journey), we are only beginning to figure it out. Nothing we do here is easy, but everything we will accomplish at the end (physically and mentally) will be so worth it. We are a community in which we all contribute equally to making the boat stay afloat. That is something to treasure.
Cianan, Mom, Dad, Lexi, Mimi, Gigi, I love you guys more than anything, and I will talk to you all hopefully in about 3 days (subject to change)… Please, please give Ryan so many loves from me!