By Kevin

Naming a boat is hard. You remember what you went through when you named each of your newborns? Well, it is sort of like that. Except, you have more options available. You can be very creative. And, options mean choices.

A boat name traditionally has some significant meaning for the owner. And, for recreational boats at least, a double entendre thrown in earns some street cred during dockside happy hours.

For naming our new-to-us Brewer 12.8, formerly Fantasy island, we wanted to find something that conveyed a taste of why we were purchasing it; what this one year family sabbatical means to Jen and me.

This trip is a sabbatical for us, meaning we are purposefully taking a break from the normal lives we have been living in order to recharge and reevaluate.

Particularly for our trip, we want to not only take a break from our everyday routines. We want to get away from the electronic tethers and trivial activities to which we’ve become so accustomed.

But, this trip is also a transition for us, not just a break or an escape. We are trying out a new lifestyle. A lifestyle where all significant decisions are intentional and lead to greater integration of our family, our work, our play and our marriage.

With these themes in mind, after weeks of soul searching, and moments of whimsy, here was our short list:

• Committed
• La Vida Real
• Incommunicado
• Family Sabbatical
• Endless Sabbatical
• Captured Moments
• Henceforth
• Off the Grid
• Cheese Farm
• Real Life

Each of these names reflects some flavor of why we bought the boat to be our home for a year. As you can see, we were light on the double entendres but we are willing to live with that at happy hour.

Our top choices ended up being:

• Henceforth
• Cheese Farm
• Real Life

We all know how it ended, of course. We chose Real Life because it directly reflects our desire that this change of lifestyle, this new way of being intentional and integrated, is not just a fantasy or a break or an escape. We want this to be our reality moving forward.

It was only weeks after choosing the name that it dawned on us that the boat had gone from being one couple’s Fantasy Island to another’s Real Life.