Home is where the heart is with Pamela Gibson

Nothing says “family” to me like the smell of a turkey roasting in the oven, pumpkin pies lining the kitchen counter, and two or three apron-clad women dicing, basting, and cheerfully getting in each other’s way in the kitchen.

I’m homesick and I am determined to be home for Thanksgiving.

I’ve been on an eight-month cruise, not on a ship, but a very small boat. My husband and I started and will finish this 5,200-mile trip in Mobile, Al. The journey took us into the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, the Intracoastal Waterway, Chesapeake and Delaware bays, the Erie Canal, and too many rivers to name.

We’ve taken the boat through nearly a hundred locks, spent a few summer months in Canada’s Trent-Severn Waterway, and because of bad weather, took one long month to get from the northern to the southern tip of Lake Michigan.

We’ve survived close encounters with shoals, lightning, heavy seas, and barges in narrow channels. We’ve spent the night tied to old locks, canal walls, and docks.

But there have been awe-inspiring moments, too, like passing the Statue of Liberty on the Hudson River. The trip through downtown Chicago in a canal surrounded by skyscrapers was not to be missed. The fall color along the banks of the Tennessee-Tom Bigbee Waterway was spectacular.

My greatest challenge on this trip has been overcoming my fears—real or imagined—and finding the courage to stick it out, even when I desperately wanted to go home. I have to admit twice I considered packing my bag, leaving a note, and getting myself to an airport.

But I didn’t.

All of us have times in our lives when we have to dig deep to find courage. I’m not a natural on a boat. I still freak out when the boat is bouncing like a cork in a washing machine, even though I know my husband is a careful, competent, experienced boat captain.

But I’ve missed home…family, friends, and pets. Smart phones are great. They keep you up to date on news and social media friends. But it’s not the same as being there.

We’ll be driving across country to get back to California, leaving the boat in Mobile to be shipped later. Yes, the boat is that small.

I can almost smell the turkey from here. No, it’s the scent of home.