May 11, 2007 - Panama City, Panama

Closing day. This afternoon the sale of our house in Boston closed. Suzy attended the walk through and closing for us. Because we weren't terribly involved in all the details leading up to the closing, it didn't immediately feel real. But then last night, as we were lazing in the cockpit, talking about the fact that we don't have any more mortgage payments and that we can finally pay off the boat loan, it started to feel really real. And this sense of euphoria flooded over us. We're free.

Just over a month ago we were in the ABC's talking about putting the boat on the hard and going back to work for a year if the house didn't sell this spring. With the house sold, we don't have to put our trip on hold and go back to work. We're free to do whatever we want for the next few years. It is an amazing feeling.

"Back in our old lives, if you had suddenly come into money, what would you have done?" I asked Sten.

"Take a long vacation," he responded.

"I'd buy a sailboat and sail around the world." I replied.

There is a touch of kismet in the fact that the closing happened the day before we are to jump off on our Pacific crossing.