Matt was anxious and kept waking up all night and, by default, so did I. Every time he woke up I’d think, “Please let the weather change! Please make it so we can’t leave until Tuesday.” It’s finally time to get up and I see Matt reach for his phone to check the weather (again). I keep my eyes closed, hoping. He nudges me, “Let’s go.” I resign myself and get up. It’s 5:30 am. We both go shower at the bathhouse before leaving. We pull out of the slip a little after 7 am. I look back as we leave the marina. An X marks the spot – we are right where we are supposed to be.

The boys come up sleepily wearing their life jackets. As we pull out into the bay, we are about to be treated to a spectacular sunrise. It is gorgeous – both the sunrise and the feeling of absolute freedom as we leave. It feels amazing. Matt was right – it was good to leave today. It feels like we are finally doing it (and, as a bonus, I no longer have to respond to my snarky sister’s question of how ‘the sailing trip in the marina’ is going).

It is Joshua’s birthday – another good reason to leave today. The wind dies down a bit later in the day. We all have lunch on the deck. We tie a balloon to Joshua. He opens his gifts and we have cake. Later, he says it is the best birthday he has ever had. We make it to Solomon’s Island with the sun setting before we get into the bay. We dock and go out for a nice dinner at the CD Café. It feels good to be a little further south.