Summary: 2012

Got this great list of questions from friend RoseAnn's blog.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before? Learned swordfighting!
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I only made one resolution last year - to read at least one nonfiction book every month to keep my brain from turning to jello in retirement.  (Mostly kept, I read 11 nonfiction books last year) No resolutions this year, but see the preceding post.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No, but 3 acquaintances gave birth within a few weeks of each other in the spring
4. Did anyone close to you die? No one close, but with online connectivity our circle is wider, so we heard about the loss of more people we knew only slightly.  The sinking of the tallship Bounty in Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy affected me quite a lot.
5. What places did you visit? We started the year docked in St Augustine, FL, visited Aruba in February and March and traveled back up the U.S. East Coast to Annapolis in April and May.  After those miles we were delighted to stay close to home for the rest of the year.
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012? More opportunities to explore the Chesapeake Bay by boat.  We spent two full months of last summer on the hard working on the new copper bottom paint.
7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Dan's surgery June 11; a talk I gave on Nov 5 that I'd been wanting to do for some time.
8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year? Amping up my writing.  My "public" blog Life Afloat Archives got a lot more visibility and I think my writing has improved.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not a "failure" in the sense of something I did, but I'm deeply frustrated at being unable to resolve formatting issues that prevent my work posting properly at the newspaper I've been writing for.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? No.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Our pirate garb has led to many new adventures and meeting interesting people!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? .
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Congressional Republicans and Tea Partiers.
14. Where did most of your money go? Boat improvements like the copper bottom paint; and a new roof on the Arizona rental house.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? really improving our diets/cooking
16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2012? Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen; Gangnam Style by PSY; and the wonderful spinoff YouTube videos of Naval Academy midshipmen spoofing the Dallas Cowboy cheerleader version of #1 and both the Naval Academy mids and West Point cadets spoofing #2
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? same
c) richer or poorer? poorer
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? sailing in the Chesapeake, see #6
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? alcohol - a couple of really over-the-top parties
20. How did you spend Christmas in 2012? quietly and privately aboard our shrinkwrapped boat
21. Did you fall in love in 2012? I stayed in love in 2012, which at times feels just as significant. (this is RoseAnn's answer and I love it!)
22. What was your favorite TV program? n/a; haven't had a TV for a long time
23. What did you do for your birthday in 2012? met friends Donna and John in Rock Hall for the "pirate festival."
24. What was the best book you read? the Sparrowhawk series; historical fiction set around the time of the American Revolution
25. What did you want and get? continued improvement of my back/walking issues with physical therapy; Obama's reelection
26. What did you want and not get? completely out of debt, thanks to the Arizona house roof
27. What was your favorite film of this year? n/a
28. Did you make some new friends this year? Yes, in the historical reenacting and pirate communities
29.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? totally conquering my back/walking problems
30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012? For the first few years after retiring, I was consciously rebelling and wore only t-shirts and jeans.  After the 3-year anniversary I started wanting to class it up just slightly, though still pretty casual.  A few posts in our blogging Raft Up about laundry last August - especially Tammy's - inspired me.
31. What kept you sane? watching sunlight on water ... as always
32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Kate Middleton.  She knew what she was getting into and never seems to lose her poise.
33. What political issue stirred you the most? The whole concept of fighting over raising taxes.  I think the place to start is to decide what government should do (take care of the poor and sick and elderly?  national defense? regulate behavior between two consenting adults?) and then decide how much that will cost, not start with how much you want to pay, or not, and then react to that imposed budget.

New Year's Un-Resolutions

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions – at least, not the “this year I’m going to lose 20 lbs, exercise more, drink less, organize the basement, and be nicer to my sister” kind of resolutions that everyone makes  in January and everyone breaks by March.  But still, I find the new year's eve a time for reflection -- not resolutions, but a time to think about priorities, “What will I write in the blank book that is my life, 2013?”

In my 20s, when the possibilities were infinite and future was wide an green and forever stretching before me, I had definite goals for my life; things like “Have a meaningful career,” “Find a forever lover,” “Raise a child,” “Live in a great place.” Some were achieved, some fell away.

Now in my late 50s, after retiring from a satisfying career and well past the age when I could have a kid if I wanted to, I realized that although I don’t have big life “goals” there is still definitely some big stuff I want in my life.  So instead of wearing a funny paper hat last night while drinking champagne, I drank cherry lemonade and sat with a pencil and my thoughts.  Below is the list I came up with, trying to articulate what big stuff I want in my life.  Getting up of course to watch the fireworks at 7:30 and at midnight; I’m not too old to love magic lights in the sky at night!

Big stuff I want in my life. The items on this list aren’t finely worded or for publication, they are not in order, they’re just for me (and you if you are interested).  I’ll probably come back and tweak this list from time to time. It intrigues me to see how many of the things I’ve prioritized are linked and intertwined.

• Dan!!!
• No worries about money, i.e., living below our means.  I feel wealthiest when I balance the checkbook and have a bit left over for charity and for being able to overtip my server at a restaurant.
• Opportunities for engagement with people in stimulating conversation – time for friends old and new, in ‘real life’ and online.  True to my Leo horoscope, I’m an unabashed extrovert.
• Health, being able to go for long leisurely walks and maintaining my physical therapy exercise regimen.
• Building the world I want to live in, and leaving the world better than I found it – volunteering and giving back, charity, having an impact, being mindful of our environmental footprint.  Writing something that leaves an impression.
• Opportunities for continued learning.
• Being in touch with Nature and seasons.
• Small space living, part of both having a great home, and creating a small footprint.  
• A home that works for me.  This includes both a great town, and a great house.  A great town would be on that is literate, politically moderate to liberal, lots of educational and cultural opportunities, probably a college town with both seasons and scenery. When I was shopping for my first house I told the realtor that what I wanted, the only requirements, were lots of wood, lots of sunshine, a great view and a great kitchen.    That list has never changed.  Although the sizes of the homes have varied for many reasons, there has always been a strong preference for small space living. from the massive Victorian we owned in Wyoming to the little sailboat. Settle somewhere I could have a cozy home and be in touch with nature and the change of seasons (a stone cottage on a bluff beside the ocean in New England, maybe, or a cabin in the Colorado mountains).  Most important, I need a feeling of safety at home. 
• Seasons, change, and newness.
• Time for hobbies, and growth, lifelong and new – cooking, reading, travel, history, maybe some art. Writing.

As interesting to me as what I put in the list, is what I left out.  Traveling by sailboat isn’t on the list. (!!??)  I love our life afloat and don’t have any plans to change it in the near or moderate future; it’s a perfect platform for getting everything on my list into my life.  It’s just that sailing, in and of itself, isn’t a goal; the things on my list could be accomplished in other ways.  I don’t necessarily want to be a great sailor.  I want to have a great life, while sailing.