[Jiminri]

I love the following passage from Geoffrey Wolfe's "The Hard Way Around - The Passages of Joshua Slocum." Wolfe is writing about Slocum's circumstances before Slocum made history by (re-)building the Spray and making the first solo circumnavigation. I figure if Slocum could rise above these circumstances, maybe there is hope for some of my dreams too.

"The tally thus far for Joshua Slocum at the age of forty-five: He had lost to death three infant children and his first wife. He had lost to shipwreck two clippers, been charged with the cruel imprisonment of one crew member and the murder of another. His second wife, Hettie, in sympathy with that seasick sailor of the Odyssey, wished to flee so far inland that local citizens would recognize the purpose of an oar. He was broke. The age of sail had ended. The captain was, that is, entirely at sea."