Neverland — The Place Where Dreams Come True
The history of my family’s refuge
Picture a little boy lost in life. His parents did not have much affection to give, being too preoccupied with fighting one another constantly. His sister was not much caring either. That little boy didn’t know what love was, but he dreamed that someday we would discover it. While he waited for that moment, he found his refugee in books and documentaries about wildlife and sailing, aspiring to one day be able to sail smoothly in the middle of nature.
The little boy is my father, and the truth is everything he aspired he ended up conquering.
Years passed, and the little boy turned into a man. He had lots of friends and partied like crazy. Still, something was missing. That’s when he met my mom. He asked her on a date right away; however, it took a whole year for them to go out together. Once they did, love filled their hearts and never left. My mom’s background was also complicated, full of struggles and odd forms of loving, but she was willing to walk the path of discovering true love, and together, that is what they did.
Without a truly credible adult figure to guide them, my parents built their life step by step. They worked hard and non-stop to create an environment with stability. Eventually, their work started to pay off, and I was born: a happy and lucky child.
I grew up admiring my parent’s mutual love and effort toward building a happy family. Besides, my mom and dad made me feel like the most special girl in the entire world, providing me with all the love and attention a child can dream of. I grew up thinking I could do anything I wanted if I dedicated myself.
My father felt incredibly loved because of my mother and me, but still, he had a dream left. As soon as he started making money, he signed up for sailing courses and even bought a tiny boat which helped him to learn the basics of the sport. As our family grew stronger, so did his passion for the nautical sport.
Therefore we decided to buy a 29 feet sailboat in an attempt to satisfy one of his ultimate wishes. Keep in mind that my mother and I didn’t understand a thing about sailing and even feared it due to how easily we used to get seasick. That is an aspect that separated us a little bit from my father: he had a passion we could not quite understand. Surprisingly, “B.serious”, our first boat, changed that.
My dad opened the doors of his passion and made us also fall in love with it. The peace we found at sea is incomparable. It is heavenly the sensation of sliding through a vast ocean solely moving because of the force of the wind. The silence is only broken by the sound of waves hitting the casque, and our minds enter an empty but still reflective state that makes us feel pure, fresh, and invincible. Our stomachs even got used to the sea, making it rare for us to feel sick. Sailing became a family passion and a way for us to connect even deeper.
Not too much time passed before my parents realized they had to find a bigger sailboat. We loved our tiny floating home; however, we wanted to be able to spend weeks at a time sleeping in it, and “B.serious” was too small for that.
My father sold with precious possession and, not that long after, bought “Trionix”, a 39 feet sailboat that provided us with all the things we wanted to have in our floating oasis. Rapidly, the new acquisition became our new sanctuary, so when the time came to rename it, we decided to call it “Neverland”.
“Neverland” was Peter Pan’s refuge, where he could forever be a child and dream. That’s what our boat is for us, especially for my father. Our floating refuge is the consummation of his dreams: it is a place where he can return to his childhood wishes and fulfill them, alongside a wife and a daughter that love him and which he loves back. It’s the place where he can become one with nature. A place where our family can take a break from our busy city lives and rest our minds while enjoying each other’s company and the nature surrounding us. At sea, the three of us feel magical, just as if we were inside a fairy-tale.
As a family, we still grow constantly. Our foundation is love, admiration, and comprehension, and that’s why we are unbreakable. We always made an effort to take an interest in the activities one of us liked, and with sailing, we indeed found our common passion, creating a magical location where we truly feel like our dreams all come true – “Neverland”.
