A single post on preparing to sail?  Ha.  I have been preparing to sail for 5 months. It has been pure panic. Panic seems to cruise along with her dear friend Doubt. These two new friends are following me around and have taken things away from me. I no longer believe sleep is a safe activity.  They stole my favorite activity.  Sleep!!  I wake up to whispered voices at all hours of the night.  Whispered like they are my friends……Panic and Doubt…..clothes lines, call the bank, get $1 bills (hundreds of them as this is our last chance), find the boys one article of clothing that is not neon, how much toothpaste does one actually use in 120 days?  (This really is a question.  Please send your thoughts.  How much toothpaste does one consume over 4 months?)…..over and over…..we battle.

I wake up to their insistent voices.

Last week we were informed our family of 4 would share a luxurious outside cabin of 500 square feet.  We are moving to a single room home.  I will wear a bonnet and white apron and start attending church on Sundays.  We will grow wheat and use wood stoves to prepare food and heat our space.  We will live like pioneers!  I see visions of blacksmithing and suspenders.  Simple times.

Scouring the internet for word of advice, I have now settled on a single google search. “Sheets as room dividers!”   Scott is terrified that the 4 days we remain in port in San Diego, post boarding, will be filled with construction.   Trips via Uber back and forth to Home Depot and Ikea.  Safety glasses, heavy machinery, drywall, mud….sheets!  I have settled on sheets and lines.

Funny thing.  Pinterest knew exactly what I needed.  Who knew there was an entire category about chopping up space with a sheet?  Phew!  Boom! We are in the light construction business.

Panic and Doubt start up again,  “Your children will not need to see their mother naked for the next 4 months.”  Tate has not changed his shirt in front of his parents for nearly 4 years.  Lincoln has no modesty, likes when we visit him in the bath and has new found comfort in the fact that we will all be together.  All together.  All together in one another’s space.

And, I cling to a single photo.  I found it on the Semester at Sea website last night.  I spy a quiet little balcony.  It is possible we might have a balcony off of our room.  Maybe not.  No one really has confirmed it.  But, it could be ours. Those pesky friends are talking again….”That may not be your room.”  Shhh……let me keep this.  I cling to this potential.

What if we will have a small space only accessible from our room?  A balcony! A place to sleep.  A spot to move away from the activities of the ship.   (Of note: Many friends and family have quietly suggested they do not “like” people enough to climb aboard a ship with 800 strangers.  Thanks for those words.)  This balcony will be mine.  No one will pass the gate without dollars exchanging hands.  The boys will not have the code word (changes every 10-20 minutes).  It will be mine. Or, maybe, it will just be a place to pile excess cabin furniture.

Scott has already been made aware his bathroom festivities will be changing in 4 days. Our cabin is designated as a “pee only” zone.  Two words.  Pee only!  More words of comfort seem to be “public bathroom.”   I have already drafted a post-it note message.   “R. Scott’s Office!”  We will claim a public bathroom for familial use with a post-it.  Solved.

Panic and Doubt just started back up….get more post it notes…..you need more…

….get more post it notes!  No problem.  Amazon is always open.  I currently have the technology to shop in the dark from our bed at all hours of the night. Voices quiet down when you take immediate action.  Post-it notes are on order 1-day delivery.  Who cares that it costs $20 to get them overnighted? We need them.

As you might suspect, it is no longer clear who is in charge anymore.  Me, or those voices. I do know we must find a way to work together.   I have already packed extra sheets, travel clotheslines, lots of tooth paste and safety goggles.  It is all coming together.

Next adventure will be to fully wrap my head around the warning from a seasoned Semester at Sea traveler, “The wi-fi on board is similar to 1995 DSL dial-up. Think simpler times.”

Okay.  Adventures ahead.  Got it.  A new frontier.  Simple.  Now, back to packing the correct amount of toothpaste.