The Price of a Dream

What's your dream?

The one thing you aspire for, that motivates you.

How much would you pay to have that dream come true? $1,000, $10,000 a $1,000,0000?

My dad paid $60,000 for his dream - a sailboat.

From the time I could remember my dad loved sailboats. He built a radio controlled one (although it was never fully finished). And when I was in junior high he went to Florida and learned how to sail. It was a dream come true.

And then he got sick. See my dad contracted Hepatitis from a blood transfusion he received in the 80's back before they started testing blood. The disease didn't really hit him until he turned 50. Then it wasted no time in tearing him apart from the inside out.

E and my Dad, before he got too sick to visit. 

Once he got sick, he knew he needed to fulfill his dream.

It consumed him. He spent hours looking on the Internet trying to find the perfect sailboat. One that was big enough, but not too big to sail by yourself. One with enough room for someone to live aboard, and SCUBA dive.

Because through all of this he had hope. Hope that a liver donor would be found and everything could go back to normal.

Eventually he found the perfect sailboat. And unbeknownst to me and the rest of the family, he checked himself out of the nursing home for a weekend, chartered a plane and flew by himself to Superior, Wisconsin to buy his dream.

Her name is G.R.A.C.E.

Like a girl who picks out baby names long before that time may come, my dad had this name picked out for YEARS. It stands for God's Riches at Christ's Expense. I'm not a religious person, but dad was and this was the equivalent of his church, his alter, his place to be at peace with the world.

Let's just say some of the family disagreed with this pricey purchase. I on the other hand could see the forest for the trees and knew that if this would keep him going for another day, month or year, so be it. He had the money to buy it, and it was his dream afterall.

In August of 2009, we were able to make his ultimate dream come true. B2, E and I together with my dad and my Aunt and Uncle and their three kids, made the trek to Superior, Wisconsin to set sail.

When we hit the water, I could see a light in my dad's face that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was freezing and there wasn't much wind, but we were fulfilling a dream.

At the end of the day, we all went to dinner. However, dad was so tired he couldn't even eat. He went to the car and slept, while the rest of us finished the day. Even though, he was exhausted, he was happy...truly happy.

It was the first and last time we sailed G.R.A.C.E.

Dad passed away in April of last year and as executor of the estate it was my job to sell the boat. We would have loved to keep her, but neither B2 nor I know how to sail and an eight hour trip to Lake Superior as well as a $500 per month boat payment, wasn't really our thing.

So, after having the boat for almost a year, we have an offer and a legit buyer. And I know G.R.A.C.E. is going to a go home. A young couple, who had a dream to own a sailboat, live aboard during the summer and SCUBA dive.

It's my Dad's dream revisited...it's fate...it's kismet...it's a gift from God (dad would see it that way).

So, I sold a dream, but made another one come true.

Dad would be proud.

Two months after this photo was taken we found out I was pregnant with G.

My dad never met his second grandson, he passed away two weeks before G was born.