Perhaps I’m dating myself, but for all you old geezers and anyone under thirty, before there was Candy Crush, Minecraft, and Angry Birds, there was another black-hole of time called “Tetris”. Players raced against time, whilst trying to manipulate and perfectly arrange/stack game pieces before running out of space. Highly addictive, time consuming, and at point I thought, pointless – those hours I spent attempting to conquer Tetris, were in reality, just training for my current occupation: move a family of five from a modest sized terra-based facility to a floating oddly-angled space of about 500 square feet.

Guyon, the boys, and I have spent our first week living aboard WIDAGO while she is getting “a little work done”. All said and done, it has been fantastic. The medication is really working. There is no substitute for spending time in an effort to learn how systems work (or don’t) and how we will use/live on her. So here are just a few highlights of what we have learned….

1. The manager’s name at the Container Store is Judy. Associates there do not work on commission, but after our assault on the store, they are reconsidering their compensation structure.

2. Even though Guyon has not stepped in the office at Moseley in many years, he still maintains impressive micromanaging skills. When he casually mentioned to one of the installers that the water heater was not perfectly level, the young man stated, “Well, boats aren’t level”. To which Guyon gave a cheshire cat grin and replied,”I’m sure it will be fine, I just wanted to let you know for your next install.” Needless to say, the water-heater is getting re-done.

3. Tween boys will read if there is no access to the TV or Internet. Amazing.

4. Tween boys will hang up their towels if they only have one. Apparently before we moved onto the boat they thought they were living in the Four Seasons with daily linen service.

5. We don’t really need much. We sold our Key Largo home furnished – left behind everything from the towels & TVs, coffee tables & coffee cups, pots, pans, and a pingpong table. Limiting our gear to what we could fit in the Chevy forced us to prioritize possessions. Non-negotiables include the giraffes, a disco ball, and my Ninja Blender.

Guyon keeps promising an updated MoFAP (for the uninitiated that would be short for “Moseley Family Action Plan”). As soon as he stops stalking contractors with his level and tape measurer, I’m sure he will post an update to our sailing plan 😉