Why on earth ...

Alison says:

We are teachers. We are newly married. Kurt works in Southern Maryland. I work in Northern Virginia. We want to buy a house. A down payment requires saving. Teachers working in the DC Metro area have to be creative about how to save while at the same time living here. So we started looking for cheap rentals halfway between our work places that allow for saving and only found houses I wasn't willing to move into. Kurt has lived on his boat since long before I met him and my resolve to wait till Hell froze over before I moved onto it began to weaken.

So last Saturday, October 4, 2015, after great internal debate, I announced to Kurt that I will put all my stuff into storage and move in for 6 - 12 months. This gives us enough time to pay off all debt and save for a solid down payment on a desirable house. We might even choose to have at this a bit longer to finally honeymoon in Iceland and maybe even Paris. Or maybe we'll do the Iceland trip and binge on trips to NYC to see the Broadway shows on my list. Or maybe... Seems kind of free, eh?

I gave notice to my landlord and suggested we start this blog to keep me looking at the sunny side of this decision. Kurt seems to be amused. The feedback from my adult children, my siblings and my friends are decidedly mixed but generally positive.

My drop dead move-on-to-the-boat date is December 1. If you aren't from around the Mid-Atlantic coast of the U.S. you may not know that this begins our cold season. Perfect time for two old newlyweds to get cozy on a boat. Game on!

Kurt says:

Why on earth two recently married people would choose to live on a 34’ boat that is cold and damp in the winter, hot and humid in the summer, with no storage space and a bed that sits on top of the poop tank is not obvious. Oh, and the cat. Did I mention the cat? There is a cat.

Clearly there is only one reason for this: Alison is crazy. I was, of course, aware of this when we chose to get married. Quirky, I thought. Full blown nuts was new to me. It turns out our crazy is compatible and so I share in the general nuttiness that surrounds this experiment. I have lived on boats for the past decade and found the quiet, simple lifestyle both enjoyable and meaningful. Alison grew up in crowded suburban Northern Virginia and lived there for much of her life. She has lots of stuff. She abhors portable toilets. She will have an absurdly long commute to work. Cooking is difficult. Winters are dangerous and claustrophobic. Entertainment is nearly non-existent. She is not a cat person. Did I mention there was a cat?

On a more serious note, we are undertaking this experiment in order to spend more time together and save money for a down payment on a house. Alison is making most of the sacrifices and will no doubt be impacted the most. Hopefully we are up for the challenge of living and loving in a very small space.