Jon's blog

I love my in-laws. I'm not just saying that because they'll be reading this, they really are great. We flew them out from Ohio to California to visit us for a couple weeks, and it was wonderful to spend time with them.

Among the several fun things we did was a little 90-minute pleasure cruise on the bay with one of the touristy sailing operations at Pier 39. It was a two-mast vessel, maybe 40 feet or so in length. We asked the first mate what sort of keel the boat had, and he said it was full-length, weighs 17 tons, and hangs five feet below the hull. We all enjoyed the peaceful ride and the beautiful views of the bridges and the islands.

My mother-in-law in particular has always been fascinated with sailing -- she collects all kinds of artwork depicting sailboats and full-rig sailing ships. We hadn't even really thought about that when we booked the cruise -- we just thought it would be something fun to do together. The real kicker for me though was when they made the off-hand comment that this was the first time they had actually been on a sailboat -- neither of them had ever sailed on the open water with only the wind powering the boat. It never occurred to me ... they've lived in inland locations most of their lives, somewhat close to the Great Lakes. but still just never had the opportunity. Without realizing what we were doing, we had checked off an item on their "bucket list".

Kinda makes me think that I need to pay more attention to the things that fascinate me, and make sure I'm seeking opportunities to experience things first-hand. What puts the wind in your sails?