We Just Bought A Boat

The endless searching of a boat to buy. It started slowly, glancing at listings online and while wandering around boat shows. Soon it became a part-time job. Will’s part-time job to be exact, since my graduate studies consumed every evening of my life.

It was a love/hate relationship – similar to searching for a new job or home. Will would search for hours every evening, stopping to show me the ones that made it past his initial screening. Only a handful of boats made it to the next stage, the in-person visit. From that pile, only a few made it to the, “If we’re desperate come September,” pile.

And then, one evening as I was wrapping up school work and packing for New York to attend my commencement ceremony, Will said, “Babe! You’ve got to see this one.” As he flipped through the photos of a ginormous 51′ boat, I rolled my eyes knowing we’d never be able to afford something that big… Keep dreaming dear.

Well, curiosity got the best of him, and Will visited the boat the next day while I was at work. He didn’t love it, but he didn’t hate it. So it was a step in the right direction! He pondered it all night and into the next day while we got ready to leave for the airport. Finally, we got a chance to talk about it while at the airport gate waiting on our plane.

To be honest, we were both thinking we’d purchase something we could afford out-of-pocket, or with a small loan from the “bank of mom and dad” 😃  – Neither of us were considering a boat that would require us to take out a loan… until now. Sitting there an hour and half early, because of my fear of being late and missing the plane, we called our bank to see what we would qualify for – just out of curiosity.

30-minutes later the bank attendant squealed, “Congrats, you’ve been approved for your boat loan! I’m so excited for y’all!” — She was very enthusiastic, and very southern. We hung up the phone, looked at each other with same deer in the headlights gaze, and muttered, “What did we just do??”

As the plane arrived at the gate, one quick phone call to the seller confirmed he would hold the boat for us… if we put down a deposit. So, an even quicker phone call to Bobby and Christina explained we were purchasing a boat and needed a huge favor!

As the flight attendant shut the doors and signaled for take-off, fear struck me, “I just bought a boat that I haven’t even seen!… What would I tell my mom when she picks us up from the airport?” …and off the run-way we lifted.