I never felt guilty about going cruising, but I would have felt guilty if I had not gone cruising because I would not have been living my dreams. If I had more than one life, then one of those lives would have been ok to live at home. But since I got only one life, I had to do what was important to me.
We lived overseas for 28 years, and we discovered that we were never more than 24 hours by air away from "home" - parents - relatives - no matter where we were in the world. When I lived in Arabia, I had 55 days of
vacation a year, and I spent more time visting
family in the
USA than if I had lived in the
USA with several weeks of
vacation a year.
After 28 years outside the USA, our parents required some support - emotional support mainly. We returned to the USA and we kept in close touch until they passed away. The truth was that they could only take a certain amount of time with us visiting them because it was a stress having us pay a visit. Older folks are set in their schedules and lifestyle. Disruptions to their routines are definitely a challenge to many elderly parents.
In the days of
email,
cheap phone calls, skype, and airplanes flying from any corner of the globe, you can keep in close touch with family wherever you are. You can do it every day if you like.
Other than elderly parents, I never cared much about what other people thought about me going cruising. Most did not care, a few disapproved, some criticized because I was putting my children's lives at risk, and none understood what was happening. I have a saying. Never Complain. Never Explain. Never Feel Sorry For Yourself.
My
kids survived. My daughter is in
medical school. My son is a musician and just released a new CD. Check it out:
too many drummers home My son also created a produced a
DVD of our Red Sea adventures.
The Red Sea Chronicles - A First Class Sailing Adventure.* Captain Dave. Everything worked out better than I had planned. What's to feel guilty about?