Sometimes you meet someone you didn't know you were looking for until you meet them. That's how it was with Jo, who is now living with us on Oso Blanco.
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| Jo with Bear on her 37th birthday! |
Friends on Mystery Ship, another 64 foot Nordhavn, hired a young woman as crew to help them with upkeep and cleaning. Upon hearing that, Eric's interest was peaked. Maybe we should hire some help? The upkeep (inside and outside) of a boat this size is a full-time job, systems maintenance is another full-time job and then there is our primary school on board. There are times it feels overwhelming and the goal of exploring the world takes a backseat. But do we want to live with someone else? In discussing it, we weren't serious enough to search for help, but decided to keep an open mind in case we happened upon someone.
When we returned to the boat in April, it was a pit and needed some major cleaning. We hired a day worker through our agent and Jo came to clean. That was a Friday. I got to talking with her and felt a really good vibe from her. She was in transition in her life, ending a few months of traveling in New Zealand and contemplating returning to her home country, England, but was open to other options. Trained as a professional yacht steward, she has experience on boats and loves being at sea. Intertwined with crewing, Jo has worked extensively as a English as a Second Language teacher to adults and kids in many interesting parts of the world over the years. But more importantly, she was cheery, warm and kind - a real energy-giver. We invited Jo to dinner and we all took to her as we listened to her amazing, free-spirited life. By Monday she'd signed on to come with us - at least as far as Vanuatu.
It's been almost a month since Jo joined us and she has become part of our family. She inspires us in so many ways: to slow down and enjoy the little things, to not use plastic (she's very environmentally conscience), to eat more veggies (she's a vegetarian), and to keep the boat cleaner!
Bear has really taken to her too. She reminds us of Mary Poppins (or the modern English Nanny McPhee) with her kind discipline and patience. When not bogged down with cleaning projects, she grabs Bear for a music lesson or a field trip project. On the passage, she took over teaching completely and held Bear to task. For Eric and me, date nights have become more frequent which is wonderful!
With Jo we got much more than a "crew" member, we got a friend, a helper, a mentor and a teacher. Somehow, she was just what we needed....and maybe somehow we were what she needed too?
