Epic Ship. While in La Paz we met an amazing couple on their journey through life. Their goal in life was to accomplish as many, “Epic Shit” experiences as they could. Sailing the world, sky diving, kite boarding, hiking the highest mountains. They were not a couple in their 20’s seeing the world for the first time. It was a mantra in their life. We fell in love with them. Their life was focused around this, which is why they named their boat “Epic Ship”.

I’ve thought of that way of life a lot since. What defines an “Epic” moment? I’ve had a few. Sailing our boat at 2:00 AM in 40 knots of wind on the nose. Running a hundred miles. Scuba diving to 120 feet of water. Climbing to the top of a 110-foot mast at thirteen years of age.

On a recent sail from La Paz to Mazatlán, watching the half moon set over the white capped horizon, alone in the cockpit at 2:00 AM, it occurred to me that Epic is not always “Epic”. It is not always hanging off the side of a cliff by a finger nail. “Epic Shit” is a personal definition and relative to each individual person. What is Epic to one, is benign to another. The point is not to compete for the “most” epic experience, but more to push our own personal comfort zones. To experience those moment’s in life we feel most alive.

Epic moments are simply defining moments in life. A memory. An impression in our lives. Epic Shit is awakening from a sleep, crawling up the companion way at 3:00 AM to find my wife who is petrified of sailing at night grinding on a winch to sheet in the Genoa as if it was standard routine. Epic Shit is watching my oldest daughter rock her 2-month old son to sleep with pure love in her eyes. Epic Shit is seeing the pain in my 11-year old daughter’s eyes as she desperately wants to rescue a stray cat wandering the streets of Mexico. Epic Shit is my almost 70-year old mom holding watch at night, 125 miles from shore, all the while being prone to sea sickness. Moment’s in my life that are burned into a clarity that lasts my lifetime.

I’ve come to realize that, “Epic Shit” moments can be simple. They do not have to cost a lot of money. They don’t have to be worthy of a You Tube viral video. They can be simple. Quit. Personal. The key to their experience is to be present to the small moments in life. To notice. To slow down long enough that they land. Most of which I’ve worked hard to avoid. I hope I can learn to slow down more in life. To have the patience to observe my own Epic Ship moments. To live a life of epic moments strung one after the other no how “big” or, “Small” seems to be an epic way to live life.

Here is to more “small” epic moments in my life moving forward and to watching my loved ones experience the same.