Location: The middle of the Atlantic Ocean!
I want to start this blog off by saying how grateful I am for the opportunity to experience days like today and let me tell you why. Today, I woke up at 11:30 am from having watch 12-4 am with my awesome team the night before. I always wake up with a smile on my face because waking up in the middle of the ocean is pretty sick. I say good morning to my amazing and awesome bunkmate Flo (we’re on a pretty similar schedule because we are on the same watch team- shout out to my bed time and nap buddy), and head into the galley to see whats cooking for lunch. I SHOUT good morning to everyone else I say very enthusiastically because I think it gives everyone a good start to their day, but I especially do this to Dan and act like I haven’t seen him in ages. It’s a fun little bit we do. I was pleased to see that Dan was our head chef today, but it gave me a bit of a giggle because he was making chicken schnitzel- for those of you who may not know, Dan is very much a vegan. I praised him for cooking meat for the majority of us even though he couldn’t even taste if it was good or not. Lunch was refreshing, simply because of the fact that it was similar to how most of our lunches go on passage. I love seeing everyone gather in the cockpit for the first time that day after a long night of watches. Everyone usually has fun stories to tell about the games they played, how many shooting stars they saw, or if they saw UFOs and mistaken the moon as a red boat on the horizon that was going to hit them (Emma..) Today I enjoyed talking with everyone about the panko breadcrumbs and flour that was falling off of our chicken patties ( It’s ok Dan, you tried and it was still delicious 🙂 ) After lunch, we started on some more exercises in Navmaster class. This is one of our more time-consuming classes (no, seriously, it’s long). It’s difficult, yet rewarding, once you figure out the concepts and how to do the problems correctly. I particularly enjoy this class because it’s super fun to cheer after someone in your group gets an answer right. I would like to commend Garrett today for his efforts paying off in class and him plotting a problem correctly after he felt like giving up yesterday. I think teamwork in this class is really important. Even though some of us might be tired or feeling unmotivated, it always lifts me up when I hear shouts of “You can do this!” or “Let’s try again together.” – It will be really rewarding when all of us pass our tests together, and we can look back on what got us through it – every single one of us leaning on each other for help. For dinner, Dan and his sous chefs made us a delicious veggie lasagna, while Emma and Johnathan made an amazing focaccia bread to go with it. I had been thinking about a squeeze question all day, and I was excited to hear everyone’s answers. During meals, as I start to finish my food, I like to sit back for a second and focus on what’s around me. The sunset, the clouds, the rise and fall of the waves on the horizon, the chatter of people’s conversation, or the belly laughs that escape here and there. I take a second to realize how grateful I am for days like this, for the fact that I get to see these sights and hear these sounds. I am grateful for today because it was much like every day, but each day comes with something new, even if it’s small. I love those small things and try to notice them as much as I can. I asked everyone for the squeeze at the end of dinner, “What they would be pursuing as their dream career or another passion/career that they weren’t already pursuing?” ( we have a lot of people on board, especially our staff, who love what they do 🙂 ). From Tom’s aspiring music career or Nate wanting to be a neurosurgeon AND astronaut at the same time- it made me smile to hear the creative answers from all of the creative minds we have. After the squeeze, Tom announced that we are switching watch teams tomorrow, so I want to give a quick shout-out to the time I’ve spent with Emma, Nate, Joey, Flo, and Andy- I’m going to miss our awesome watch team 3, and especially our talks about aliens, playing games, and laughing about our silly moments. With another end to the day that might be similar to the rest, I look back and reflect on how lucky I am to be experiencing these days- in the middle of the ocean, with 19 people I only met 3 weeks ago but already feel an incredible connection to. I look forward to tomorrow, the next day, and the next- keeping in mind all of the small things that set each day apart. See y’all tomorrow… P.S. To all of my wonderful sisters + Cody and Nick, I love and miss all of you so much, and I can’t wait to share all of my stories with you. Cody, I hope you had/have a very happy birthday, and I hope Raquel sets up the best birthday weekend for you. Please tell all of my nieces- Sloane, Olivia, Laine, and Gia that Cha Cha misses them too and that my love for them is as big as the ocean I’m sailing on. Raquel, please tell little Clark not to come into the world too early and I have the biggest hug to give you both when I’m home. Another P.S. from ya girl Flo: Happiest of birthdays, Hello! I hope you had an amazing day. Can’t wait to call you and hear all about it. Lots of love from the middle of nowhere. Thinking of you (and you, too, Teya and Jacquie) 🙂 xoxo