To all sleep deprived mums and sleep deprived sailors out there,- it’s hard! It’s bl#$^% dangerous. It’s lonely. I totally forgot how tough it is. Brain turns into soup, life up side down, and nothing makes sense anymore when your body-mind doesn’t get a regular, consecutive x amount of sleeping hours over a 24 hrs period for an extended period of time. I’m surprised driver’s licenses don’t get suspended for such occasions…

Sailors have the advantage of knowing once the passage is over and the anchor is hooked, they can catch up on their sleep. Mums have the advantage of the hormones to help them through the days.

Both generally keep going – even if it’s just on a frail spider’s thread, cause of the love for their boat, cause of the love for their kids. And in my soupy brain I wonder, can anyone understand love who hasn’t sailed or mothered before? With all due respect, dads, it’s not the same for you. You can have a break, go out and get drunk with your mates – what we used to do together in the old days… – and pretend for a moment life was different. Mums generally don’t have that option. We just keep swimming (and sometimes diving) like the little Nemo in the Disney Movie. And maybe that’s what life boils down to after all when you are forced to cut it back to basics: A giant Disney Movie, with the uncertain and bad moments to give it a plot and a bit of tension – but always with a happy ending and some nice music every now and then.

I feel with all you other mums and ocean crossing sailors out there… one day, me too, I’ll be sailing away again, emerging from the dive, island hoping and seeing the sun once more. Until then, I try and focus on the music.

Once you chose hope, anything is possible!