7/4/26 - Creating New Habits

Hi Friends!  Happy Fourth of July!

Here’s the deal: I took a few months off from working on the book because we were moving back into our house and getting settled.  And now I’m ready to slowly wade back in. The inertia has waned, but the desire to write this book is still very much there.  So, I decided to write a quick blog post today merely to exercise my writing muscles and create some momentum for a new writing habit.  I have a cup of coffee (Southport mug!) and I’m sitting in The Lounge in the super comfy chair I bought at a neighbor’s garage sale three weeks ago.  (FYI – The Lounge is Addie’s old bedroom.  “The Lounge” must be said in a way that makes it sound super fancy and cool.  Tip: Overdramatize the letters and the way your mouth moves when you say it and lean into the satisfying “g” at the end: “The Loouuunnnggggge.”)

Okay, Holl, let’s stretch those writing muscles by starting small and doing some high-level updates:

We are back in our house.  We moved in on March 1st, even though the Property Manager never gave us the keys he promised us and never did the walkthrough he also promised us.  (Why can’t people just do their jobs?)  Steve found an old key and we were able to get into the house (The former tenant ultimately gave us his keys directly).  We had almost 30 people (Wow!) show up to help us move and warm up the house. It felt SO GOOD (!) to have a house full of people we love again.  Plus, it was my mom’s birthday and we had a makeshift celebration.

March, 1, 2026 - Move-In Day/Mom’s birthday - About to go into our house for the first time since December 2024. A HUGE “thank you” to all of you who helped move us back in!

We have not sold the boat yet.  We were on the phone with our broker yesterday.  It is very much a buyer’s market right now and boats are just not selling.  But don’t worry, my friends!  We are STILL (!) getting all the benefits we grew to know when we were living on the boat—not going anywhere on it and constantly shelling out ridiculous sums of money for unexpected repairs.  😊 Luckily, we also get the monthly reminder that we are “super cool boat owners” every time we look at our credit card statement and see a charge almost as high as our mortgage to pay for her parking spot.  On land.

We have kept in touch with our boat friends.  For Memorial Day weekend, we drove to North Carolina for Colyn and LuAnn’s wedding. We met their new son, Waylon, and did some dancing. It was wonderful to see them on their big day. 

Hanging out with our original boat friends, Colyn and LuAnn on their wedding day.

As for Claire, I just texted her yesterday. I also just realized that I’m wearing my “Creamery” shirt from Massachusetts today. It’s become my favorite. 

June 2025 -Sid at the Old Creamery Co-op in Cummington, Massachusetts. He’s wearing his new “Sid’s” hat from Sid’s Grocery Store in the Bahamas.

I just checked the No Foreign Land app and it looks like our SV Pintail friends are heading to Grenada. (Update: Writing this blog made me reach out to Sarah and we’re now texting as I write this.  They are doing well and are currently anchored off of a tiny island called Carriacou.)

We are all significantly happier.  A few months ago, we had a potential buyer and the inspection turned up a few things we didn’t know needed attention.  *placed fake shocked face here* I was bummed about all of the money we were spending on repairs.  Steve pointed out that if we were still living on the boat, she would still need the same repairs BUT we would be…….out there…..somewhere.  But now we’re here…on land…in our house…with air-conditioning and showers and friends and family we can commiserate with and doing jobs that can (mostly) pay for those repairs.  Much better than being on an island in the hot sun trying to find parts and doing repairs and being financially stressed out. 

Yeah, not counting the days when perimenopause and puberty collide in our house, we’re all much, much happier here in St. Louis. 

We’re learning that “exploring new places” can be local. Addie at The Book House in Maplewood, MO.

Sid at Cliff Cave park in St. Louis. He has fallen in love with mountain biking.

Don’t get me wrong, as I’ve been writing this post this morning, the back-and-forth texts with Sarah have left me with a bit of a melancholy feeling.  I feel the sadness when the “if only’s” pop up.  But then I think about how Sid is super happy at this moment because he’s with a friend having a sleepover. And how Addie is leaving for a really cool overnight camp in Wisconsin tomorrow.  Luckily, those “if only” moments are getting further and further apart now.  And when they happen, they aren’t as severe as they used to be.  And I can remind myself that we tried it.  We actually did it.  And that it didn’t work for our family for all kinds of reasons.  I can cycle through all of the logic and (usually) bring myself back to gratitude for being where we are.  Maybe that would be a good thought exercise for me.  What is the actual logic cycle I use to get back to neutral? 

*******

Okay friends, I started to write out the cycle and then Steve walked into The Lounge and we got into an hour-long discussion about our boat experience.  After that, I picked my phone back up and Sarah had texted me the pics I requested of their family in Carriacou.  And now Addie is making cinnamon rolls. When I go to pick up Sid later today I’m going to have a margarita with his friend’s mom.  I need to wrap this up!

Bottom line: Life is good.  Addie just walked in with those cinnamon rolls and an iced coffee with homemade vanilla creamer that she made.  She learned how to make that creamer last week from her friend, Gemma.  And Steve just came back to tell me about the funny text conversation that is happening with his trivia night dad friends.  Sarah from Pintail just texted me her daughter’s contact information so she and Addie can re-connect because her daughter is missing her friends. 

Steve and Addie are looking at a photo book of England.  Steve just said “Addie are you going to walk across England with me someday?”

Addie: “Yeah.”

Life goes on. Those margaritas are calling. 😊 

Steve and Addie looking at one of the many books we got back two weeks ago from our cousins who were storing them for us. Steve did the Coast-to-Coast walk across England with his dad when he was 18. We have plans to do the walk as a family someday.