This past Saturday the captain headed to Akupara early in the morning and I stayed behind. That afternoon I had a dental appointment scheduled and figured I should stay back to prepare.
Prepare. For an afternoon dental appointment. That is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is I was actually looking forward to going to the dentist. What I realized is that one cost we did not mention about restoring Akupara is the cost of personal time.
Owning a boat or being committed to any extra-curricular activity comes with a cost, an investment of personal time or “me” time. It also comes the price tag guilt, which is synonymous in my case with a dental appointment, better known as getting out of work.
Akupara is a joint effort and will require some re-thinking about what personal time looks like for me. Weekends will be taken up with restoration projects, week nights will be taken up with discussion of The Boat and a balance will develop between “me” time and Akupara time.
Completing tearing out the sticky anti-slip stuff in the cockpit on Sunday felt great. It was an accomplishment among many to come and I was able to redefine to some degree what personal time meant to me during the hours I spent with a heat gun and scraper. I had time to reflect on the weeks events, unplug through physical labour and find focus while learning a new skill–Heat Gun/Scraper Pro.
Personal time is a commodity that some of us do not give up readily, it is something we guard carefully. Akupara is now a piece of my personal time as for only “me” time, well, I have scheduled another dental appointment in three months. I can hardly wait!