Sailing in Santa Barbara on our friends’ boat.
We’re having house guests for the weekend. I’ve been running around, cleaning, planning menus and buying food. Our good friends from Santa Barbara that we met as newlyweds are driving out to see us in Arizona.
Our husbands met each other during training in Princeton at the beginning of their careers with Merrill Lynch. They hit it off and since we all lived in California, they invited us to their apartment in Santa Barbara. We made the four-hour trek from Palm Springs one weekend.
I’ll never forget pulling up to the curb at the place of people I’d never met and my husband’s friend said “Right mates, let go!” (He’s from Australia.) We jumped in his car and headed to the marina where his wife was waiting for us on their boat.
Soon, I learned how to skirt the jib and follow other commands. We were in the midst of a race with the Santa Barbara Yacht Club. They asked if I needed a jumper which I had no idea meant a sweater. Other Aussie phrases I learned that weekend were “G’day mate” and “for sh*ts and giggles.”
That was the beginning of a friendship I treasure. I overheard the friend tell my husband, “The wives are getting along. It doesn’t always work out that way.”
We don’t have anything nearly as exciting planned for their visit as being in a yacht race. But we’ll enjoy each other’s company, hike some trails and check out the water level at our nearby lake.
What are your favorite things to do with friends?
How did you meet your best friends?
Do you have couple friends that both you and your spouse enjoy?
You can barely see my friend’s head over her husband’s back on one of our sailing trips.
Oh, I hope you have a great time EA. Friends like that are amazing, always great to come back to them. Have a wonderful time!
Thank you! We visit them every summer on our beach vacation and it’s rare they have time to see us. I know we’ll have a great time.
This post made me LOL – more than once. Does that mean you served up ‘sh*ts and giggles’? I think so. And your friend’s ‘nautical’ t-shirt was fabulous to see at the end. Cheers to old friends who make us laugh. Nothing’s better. 🥰😜🥰
Cheers to making memories with friends and looking back on them. Laughter with old friends is such a fabulous thing. 💕
Agree! 🥰❤️🥰
👍🏼 I was planning a surprise birthday for hubby but we both got sick. They were coming out for that. I’m glad they are still visiting.
Me, too! A good boost – always — dear friends. 🥰
Yes!
I had the opportunity to sail once as a young adult. I loved it and held onto a dream about owning a sailboat for some time. Never happened but it was a nice dream!
They moved away from Santa Barbara for several years to Idaho and Indiana. They were able to return and buy another boat when our kids were growing up. I took sailing at the UW with my brother. We weren’t very successful at it. But it’s a different story with our friends in Santa Barbara who know what they’re doing.
I finally gave into that dream at one point, Deb, but I was happy to sell the boat and don’t miss it. Glad I learned to sail, though.
Realistically a sailboat would never have been in my future but it was such an amazing experience that one time. I will always be grateful I got to do it 🙂
I think being on any boats on the water are wonderful memories.
You’re right EA. I have lots of great memories that involved boats when my family owned lake property
😊
Sailing is an art and a skill.
We had some scary moments, because sailing on mountain lakes is nothing like the ocean. Very erratic winds. I’m happy to be a passenger. 😊
Love these snippets from long-time friends, Elizabeth! So glad they are coming for a visit to make more memories!!
I’m so excited to see them. We visit them every summer in Santa Barbara, but it’s rare they come to see us. They’ve always been self employed and working nonstop — except for sailing on Sundays.
A wonderful friendship! I hope you have a lovely time.
It is! Thank you!
You’re most welcome 🙏🏼
😊
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Old friends are life’s greatest gifts! So glad you have some special ones in your life.
👍🏼
Clever message on the t-shirt. I don’t know a thing about boats and sailing. I’m impressed with your ability to learn the ropes. [Bad pun, I know.] Sail on, my friend. [Another one, I know]
I enjoy your humor! I took sailing in college with my brother and it took only one time for me to get hit in the head “coming about.” The boom knocked my earrings out and tore out a chunk of my hair. That’s how I first learned the ropes 😁
How wonderful to have a friendship like this, and for so long! We do have some friends as couples and we’ve done a couple trips abroad with them.
We have always talked about going to Australia with this couple. Maybe it’s in our future.
That sounds like an awesome idea!
👍🏼
With friends dinner, game night, pickleball, cover bands. I bet some of my besties in college, one from work, one from playing tennis, mother of my daughter’s friend, college classmate of my husband. We have a few couple friends we both like but not enough
That all sounds like fun. Usually with couples there’s one spouse we might not like as much as the other.
Us too
👍🏼
What a fun life you lead!
At times it is 😊