The Boat Idea Would Not Shut Up
Life Afloat Series Hub: Life Afloat: The Boat Season
Episode 1: The Itch
Linda and I are not “play it safe” people.
We’re not “stay between the lines” people.
We’re not “let’s think about it for six months while we slowly die inside” people.
If something lights us up, we don’t stare at it like a museum exhibit.
We touch it.
We poke it.
We ask, “Could we live like that?”
And if the answer is yes…
We go all in.
Usually with a smile.
Sometimes with a plan.
Rarely with fear.
I know there are more of us out there.
A whole clan.
Scattered.
Probably because risk isn’t a dirty word to us.
It’s a vitamin.
For proof, Linda and I met in a bar doing karaoke and got married eight weeks later. Then we met the parents.
Just the beginning.
This blog is a beacon for them.
Come find us.
Bring snacks.
We’ll be the ones dangling our feet off the ledge, waving.
Risk Is a Vitamin (and We’re Apparently Deficient)
Some people see a ledge and think, “Danger.”
We see a ledge and think, “That view though.”
Hanging our toes off the edge doesn’t scare us.
It excites us.
I don’t know if I found Linda out of nowhere because she was already wired like that…
Or if I “turned” her to the exciting side.
Either way, something bigger than us was working FOR us.
You might call it the universe, life, coincidence, or whatever. I call it God.
I’m not here to hand you my label. I’m saying pay attention.
Whatever you call it, it is working FOR you.
We Didn’t See a Problem. We Saw a Life Option.
When the boat idea came up the first time, we didn’t immediately list all the things that could go wrong.
We saw it as a way to live.
And we liked it.
So we considered it like normal people consider a couch.
Is it comfortable?
Can we sleep there?
Does it fit the vibe?
But the boat wasn’t our first choice then.
Not because it wasn’t exciting.
Because it didn’t fit the season.
Our Options Were Simple. Our Brains Were Not.
We had three ideas on the table:
RV.
Boat.
House sitting.
The RV was the obvious one.
It’s what most people do when they hit “that age.”
Mobility.
A place to sleep.
A built-in home base.
Also, it’s a little safe.
Not judging.
Just observing.
But it still costs money.
Up front.
Gas.
Maintenance.
Insurance.
Campgrounds.
Lot rentals.
It was our top option.
Right up until house sitting fell into Linda’s lap.
Literally.
We were driving back from Florida (again), and we were fresh off a cruise. Cruises are where we do our best dreaming. Something about being on the water makes the big ideas feel less ridiculous.
Then Linda spots a Facebook ad for Trusted House Sitters.
And just like that, our brains turned so fast we almost got whiplash.
This is the way. Go ye in it.
Why the Boat Was a “Not Yet”
We said no to the boat back then for one reason:
You can’t drive a boat across the United States.
A boat limits you to coasts and waterways.
And at that point, we wanted the whole country.
Everywhere.
Not just shorelines.
So we went house sitting.
And it worked.
It worked so well we crossed the country three times.
Back and forth.
Like we were shaking an Etch A Sketch and calling it a travel plan.
Then the pandemic hit.
And we got marooned in Las Vegas.
Actually Henderson, Nevada.
Same difference.
And here’s the truth:
None of that would have happened on a boat.
The Desert Was Great. I Still Needed Water.
We enjoyed the mountains.
The desert.
The occasional visit to Lake Mead.
But I’m a Florida boy.
And after long enough, I start missing real water.
Big water.
Atlantic water.
Gulf water.
Intracoastal waterway water.
The kind of water where I spent most of my youth running around in a little jon boat with a big motor, thinking I was basically Captain Jack Sparrow.
Me and that jon boat were inseparable. If I wasn’t in school, or “not at school,” I was out there raising a little porpoise and chasing speckled trout at my secret spot.
So as we started gearing up to cross the country again and head toward Florida…
Something shifted.
We weren’t just traveling anymore.
We were changing seasons.
New Season. New Normal. Same Us.
After three and a half years on the run, we started missing something.
Not “settling down.”
Not “being done.”
Just a home base.
A place we could come back to.
But not worry about while we ran off again.
Maybe a condo by the beach.
Linda LOVES a beach.
Maybe a tiny beach hut.
Live like beach bums.
Maybe a condo on the Intracoastal…
With a dock…
And a BOAT.
And then the thought got louder.
Maybe a BOAT without the condo.
That was the exact line.
A boat would give us a home base we could take with us. We could loop Florida, slide down the coast, and if the mood hit, point our floating condo toward the Bahamas like we owned the place.
And as fate, or the universe, or God would have it, the boat we ended up with was basically the daydream.
A two-bedroom, two-bath condo on the water, across the street from the beach.
Except ours floated.
And just like that, the boat idea came back.
Not as a cute little fantasy.
As a real option.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Which is how we know it matters.
Because if an idea keeps returning, it’s not just a thought.
It’s an itch.
A pull.
A theme.
And when you’ve been us for five minutes, you know what happens next.
Hell yeah. We’re doing that.
Helmets optional. Detours allowed. Autopilot disengaged.
With love and laughter,
Matt & Linda
No 2 The Quo
Life Design Takeaway:
The boat wasn’t the point. The decision was.
When an idea keeps coming back, it’s usually not because you’re bored. It’s because something in you is awake. You don’t have to have the whole plan to honor it. You just have to name it, talk it through, and take the first small step that proves you mean it.
For us, the boat idea wasn’t reckless. It was a direction. And direction is what breaks autopilot.
New here? Start with the big picture: Start Here
Want the framework behind it all? Start the Declaration of Intendependence™ series here.
Want the whole boat season in order? Start here: Life Afloat: The Boat Season
Before We Had the Framework, We Had the Stories
We didn’t start No 2 The Quo with a tidy little life design model and a color-coded spreadsheet.
Shocking, I know.
We started with a few lived decisions. Big ones. Messy ones. The kind where you say, “This is probably fine,” while quietly wondering if you have lost your entire mind.
These three stories explain how we got here before we had the words Declaration of Intendependence™ to describe what we were doing.
These are the origin stories behind No 2 The Quo.
👉 Why We Said No 2 The Quo After the Kids Left Home
👉 It Took Two Years to “Suddenly” Change Our Lives
👉 Yes, We Really Did Pack Our Whole Life Into a Car and Leave
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