Big News

I’m blogging from my sofa today while I prep for my first colonoscopy.  Did we mention previously that not everything about sailing is glamorous?  There is engine maintenance, the importance of freezing flour, so weevils don’t appear, laundry in a bucket, nasty rashes from the saltwater and the need for pre-sailing colonoscopies (prior to the big adventure.)  I was afraid about my impending procedure earlier in the week, but now I’m not. I think it’s because on Thursday night, I got a big ego boost and I have been feeling confident about pretty much everything ever since.  That’s when we both passed the US Coast Guard Captain’s Licensing Exam.

“Captain Jill”, there’s such a nice ring to it.  So why did we do it if we are not planning on taking paid passengers on our boat?  Well, the number one reason for me was safety. I would not have learned the stuff I learned had I not been ‘forced to’ by the exam.  I think Michael’s number one reason was a matter of overcoming his impostor syndrome. He said that he didn’t feel worthy of the ‘Captain’ title on the VHF without actually becoming a captain. This is silly because he had both the sea time and the knowledge, but he wanted to make it official. There were many other reasons, or to clarify, scenarios that we imagine this license will come in very handy.  Anything from future work opportunities, to emergencies, to assisting other sailors with our TWIC status. Heck, I think it might even beef up my resume for future Nurse Practitioner jobs someday. Imagine you’re an employer and you read, “Twenty-five years of pediatric clinical experience and Licensed Captain.” Very cool.

Make no mistake, this test was hard!  (And it has a sizable price tag.) I can easily equate it to taking my nursing boards. However, I took the nursing boards when I was twenty-four.  In my opinion, the twenty-four-year-old mind has a distinct advantage over the forty-nine-year-old mind when it comes to taking tests.  Regardless, for those of you who plan to take this test, I recommend Mariners Learning. It was a decent course that you can use online or via softcover books. It requires a lot of memorization, but not without understanding the concepts as well.  A ninety percent is required to pass on both the Rules of the Road and the Chart Plotting sections. The lights and sounds are particularly tricky. For example, you will need to know that a towboat over fifty meters in length, towing astern tow greater than two-hundred meters requires three masthead lights, sidelights, another masthead light higher and aft, a stern light and a tow light. You will also need to know that the fog signal for such vessel’s last tow (if manned) is one prolonged followed by three short blasts of the whistle. Remember, if the last tow is unmanned, or if it is the second to last tow, it will not make a fog signal.  You will also need to know that a prolonged blast is 4 to 6 seconds, a short blast is 1 second and a whistle is not the kind of whistle that a basketball coach uses. In summary, studying for the Captain’s Licensing exam is like learning a foreign language that is useful only on another planet.

I enjoyed studying for this test with Michael. We spent every long car ride since September quizzing each other on the Rules of the Road.  However, I did not enjoy studying for this test on my own. I took three days of precious vacation time off work to cram, as I knew by mid-January that I was barely treading water when it came to the plotting questions and I had not reviewed the deck general and safety information in months.  It was a necessary evil to be cooped up like a college student for three days. In the end, I did it, Michael did it, and we both have a newfound sympathy for our college student sons. Thank goodness they are both smarter than me and do not seem to have inherited my ridiculous test anxiety!

So it turns out that neither the colonoscopy nor the Captain’s License is the really big news.  I resigned from my job in preparation for our June 1 departure and for me- that’s big. Here’s an excerpt from my resignation letter:

Please accept this letter as notice of my resignation from my position as Nurse Practitioner. My last day of employment will be April 30, 2020.

I will be starting a new career as both a novelist and an explorer.  I will be maintaining my Nurse Practitioner license and certification, but I do not plan to work as such in the near future.

It has been a pleasure working at the Open Door Family Medical Center over the last eleven years.  For what I have given of myself in hard work and dedication, I have received in return tremendous respect, knowledge and professional growth.  I deeply appreciate your support over the years and I am grateful to have worked in the Open Door environment long term. My colleagues have become my extended family and the patients have undeniably changed me for the better.  Given a professional and lifestyle change of this magnitude, I think it’s safe to say that I will miss everything, but I am extremely excited nonetheless.

I like this letter because it’s sincere.  Did you know that during a lung exam when I encourage a child to take a deep breath, “Respira profundo,”  the parents inadvertently take a deep breath? Every time. No matter if the child is one or twenty-one. Parents breathe with their children and it’s quite evident that if they could, they would breathe for their children.  I will surely miss these interactions and I plan to write about them in a novel someday. This notion of becoming not only a sailor but a writer as well is so exciting!