Location: CA
Even though it has been almost a week since we traveled back home, I am still getting used to this new normal of life back home.
When we were on Ocean Star, we would be woken up at 7 am every day to the voice of one of our fellow crew members or to music played off the skipper of the days’ phone, or (my personal favorite) some of the music off of Mathews famous playlist, including “Sea Shanty 2” by Ian Taylor. You would wake up right by your closest friends and almost instantly hear people laughing somewhere on the ship. After getting ready for the day and throwing on a bathing suit, we would head up on deck to all eat together with the 360-degree view of the beautiful Caribbean Sea. After eating, we would get a rundown of what the day was looking like (the schedule for the day) and then do clean up.
Now that back home, I wake up to a normal sounding iPhone alarm get up out of bed to see our family’s happy puppy staring at me waiting for me to get on the floor to play. After some playtime with Koa (our puppy), I finish getting ready and realize how much I am missing just throwing on a bathing suit in the morning. I make myself some scrambled eggs and sit outside in the sun, which reminds me of being back on the boat. Not as good of a view, but the sun, as I discovered on my second day being home, is still strong enough here to give me a nice sunburn. After eating, I conduct my own “Dish Pit” and wash all the dishes and put them away while playing music, just like how we would do on the ship, sure was missing the dryer and gopher. I then pull out some paper and write down what I want to get done for the day and then get to work.
Coming home, I defiantlybrought with me the morning routine with me and the motivation to keep up the good habits I have picked up/learned during my time on deck. Although the sceneryhas changed, Ocean Star and her crew are still a part of my daily life.
And with that, its time for me to log on for our daily Zoom squeeze where I get tosee and hear everyone just as I did every morning aboard Ocean Star.
PS: Sea Shanty 2 is available on Spotify for any of you who need a little flashback to morning wakeup’swith Mathew