Without 9-5 jobs, cars and a big house Mike and I spend a lot of time together. People who don’t live on boats are often amazed at how we are able to cope. They think their mate would drive them nuts.

While we do sometimes drive each other nuts I don’t think much more so than when we lived “normal” lives. In the past we worked for the same company and drove to work together, had lunch together if we didn’t eat at our desks and lived far away from close friends and family. We’ve always spent a considerable amount of time together.

To get some space on the boat we usually end up in different parts of the boat – Mike likes to do his boat-chores in the cockpit and does most outside maintenance. I’m more of an inside person. When we lived in a house Mike liked to work out in the garage and I was in the house or yard.

When fights do erupt – and they do! – luckily neither one of us is one to hold a grudge very long. And after a bit of cooling off time we usually can’t keep a straight face when when our eyes meet.  Most fights really are silly when you think about it. And thankfully both of us had great role-models. Both of our parents have been married over 40 years!

It’s also important to get off the boat. Experiencing the world around us just shows us even more how petty most of our issues really are. And at the end of the day we live on a boat in paradise!

This post was written as part of a blog-hop. Visit the Monkey’s Fist website for posts about this topic written by other cruisers or check out these topics: 

 Why do we Cruise
Pink and Blue Jobs Aboard
Leave it or Bring it: Stuff
Provisioning
Fear
Swag and Approaching the Natives
Clothes and Laundry