Tick...tick...tick...

That sound you hear is the clock, inexorably counting down the days, hours, and minutes until our long awaited day - the day that we will be together living on St. John!

Yes, soon (not to be confused with soon come!) the "our" in in stjourdream will be a reality. I have a one way ticket to St. Thomas for October 12, 2013!!

Leslie made another trip back here to Florida the week before last. Prior to her arrival she had told me that we were going to decide on a hard move date for me before her return to the islands.  Between the sessions with her clients, a couple of visits with some dear friends, and more of the "what do we do with this stuff" decisions, we talked about many things, but that never came up - maybe we were both a little afraid of that topic...

When I dropped her off at the airport for her flight back to STT, I told her that I'd be in touch shortly with flight information for me. She looked hopeful, but understandably skeptical as we headed in our separate directions.

During the drive back home my thoughts first went to all of the unresolved issues that were still blocking my ability to make the move.It's not like I had been just sitting around, so why did I think that all of a sudden I'd be able to accelerate that process?

Then it struck me. As long as my date was "TBD" things were going to find a way to not get done. Leslie was right - I needed to just pick a day and go. Rather than sit down and calculate how long it would take me to do this and that, I decided to follow the path we've been on and let my heart drive the decision. "Mid-October" jumped out to me, so I went to look for one way flights in that time frame. I started with mid-week flights and since Tuesday would fall on the 15th that's where the search began. It turned out that I could save over $100 by flying, of all days, on Saturday the 12th..

As soon as I got the confirmation email I sent Leslie a text to let her know to meet me at Cyril King Airport on Saturday, October 12 - I could feel her smile all of the way from Red Hook, where she was awaiting the ferry to St. John.

There are still a lot of things to take care of, but it's amazing how much more quickly they seem to be progressing since that line in the sand has been established!

October 12 is the traditional date for celebrating Columbus Day, and I think it's a pretty cool coincidence that it turned out to be the date that I'll be "sailing to the new world"!

St. John - Here WE Come!