Anne and I have a couple of friends, Skip and Lydia, who have recently retired and have spent the past two years preparing to go on the adventure of a lifetime. The adventure sounds simple: pick a nicely priced sailboat that needs a little work, put your heart and soul into it, make it your home, prepare every way you know how, and go sailing.

Well, they did it.

Skip and Lydia departed St. Petersburg, FL for the Florida Keys last week with a north wind and a reasonably good forecast on the horizon. Check out some pics of their dream on The Flying Pig website.

Then bad things started to happen.

Long story short, due to a bad turn in weather, exhaustion and a navigational error, they grounded their boat very hard on a reef just north of Marathon Key. They are physically okay, but the boat, and their dream, are both badly damaged.

Here is the part we all need to take a lesson from: Skip and Lydia possess the one thing we should all wish for, and that is the indomitable spirit. They are rolling with this punch, already planning repairs, refit, and how to resume their dream. This is akin to someone having their house ripped apart by a tornado, and they are back in the swing of reaching for that dream in a span of days.

That is nothing short of amazing to me.

Many would, under similar circumstances, simply give up. The financial setback alone is daunting, forget having to assess the damage, plan repairs, procure replacement equipment and materials, and do the lion’s share of the work yourself all while living on the very thing you are repairing. Imagine gutting your house down to the framing and studs, rewiring, replumbing, fixing structural damage, sometimes even removing and reaffixing internal walls, all while living in it.

This is the task they have set before themselves, and they are, once again, doing it.

I can only wish I had that type of spirit.

Skip and Lydia, you go.