It Was Very Bittersweet...

In 1999, we bought a brand new Bayliner boat. We live within 30 minutes of 2 lakes and thought boating would be a fun family activity while the kids were growing up, and it definitely was. Over the years, the kids and their friends have had so much fun tubing and wakeboarding and alot of wonderful memories were made while boating...really fun memories! Unfortunately though, times change, kids grow up, and we realized our boating days had come to an end. With no kids at home (sadly, our kids don't even live in the same city as us any more), and Howard and I now enjoying an RV, the boat got no use. We figured out today that the poor thing had sat on the side of our house getting no attention for the last 3 years. We knew it was time to sell but we just hadn't made any effort to do it.

I guess at one of our monthly campouts, Howard had casually mentioned to a camping club friend that we were going to be selling the boat. Our friend said his boss Ryan was looking for a boat, and if it was ok, he would tell him about ours. Long story short, Ryan called us and we started the ball rolling.

Ryan, his wife, and their 2 beautiful little girls drove 3 hours to our house today and it was love at first sight when they saw the boat. We had emailed them pictures but it sure made us feel good when Ryan said the boat was so much better than he had expected. It was exactly what they had been looking for!

All in all, they were at our house for about 4 hours and we really got a feel for how wonderful this family is. Seeing them drive away with the boat was hard but it was alot easier knowing that it was being passed on to a young family who would now be making their own fun family memories with it. They didn't know it, but they were exactly the type of family we were hoping for!

So tonight, our boat has a new home. I'm sure it will take us months to adjust to the fact that it's not on the side of the house any more or the fact that I won't catch a glimpse of it outside the laundry room window each day.

To say the least, today has been very bittersweet.

P.S. I asked them to take a picture of themselves on the boat when they take it out for the first time and email it to us. They said they would...and I really hope they do!