When I gave up kissing immature toads I found a worldly prince. It wasn’t his charm that attracted me, nor his physique, but his mindset, a mindset that mirrored my own: it is never too late to reinvent your life and live it on your terms.

Born two continents and fourteen years apart, he in Los Angeles in the 1940s, me in Ireland in the ’60s, the chance of our meeting was about as likely as finding a hedgehog playing ice hockey. And yet, when mutual passions collide, and purpose aligns with desire, anything is possible.

From my childhood bedroom window overlooking Dublin Bay, I would delight in the pretty sailboats dancing on the afternoon sparkles. Oh, to be out there on the wavy blue, miles from straight lines and limitations. But joining the yacht club was financially out of the question. 

By the time I was ready to make living at sea a reality, the mega yacht industry deemed me too old. It wasn’t that I was forty-eight, it was that I was over twenty, not to mention my clothes were too big for Barbie.

Since I couldn’t work on the ocean, I chose to live on a tiny island surrounded by it instead. Sark — the first dark sky island in the world, no paved roads, no cars, accessible only by ferry. Idyllic. However, at the end of five years, the owners closed the hotel I managed. 

Divorced, childless, and now in my fifties, it was time to redesign my life.

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I threw a rucksack on my back and spent a year volunteering my way around the world, working five hours a day, five days a week, in exchange for food and lodging. Projects enticed me to remote islands and exotic locations in the South Pacific, Australasia, and Micronesia. The final mission was to assist a solo sailor from Florida to the Bahamas. It was only supposed to last a month.

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Enter one Captain Gary Krieger — after extricating himself from a long-term marriage, Gary enrolled in sailing school, bought a boat, and at 67 years of age moved aboard. 

He was ready to explore but he needed crew. The beauty of aging is that we stand more solidly in our power, shut out the noise from other people’s fears, and rely on our intuition. On a January day in 2016, I trusted my gut. 

Gary welcomed me on that aptly named sailboat “Freed Spirit”, he too having discarded his friends’ concerns: I might be a modern-day pirate scheming to relieve him of his ship once we were twelve miles offshore. Leaving the doomsayers in our wake, we steered his vessel to the horizon and beyond.

Neither of us was looking for love. Recently single, Gary was allergic to pecans and relationships, and I had abandoned the frantic search for a mate now that my baby clock had stopped ticking.

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Yet, we soon discovered that when you live 24/7 in a 40ft space with no internet or cell service and have to rely on your fellow mariner for your safety, you get to know each other from the inside out. 

We talked. And talked. Our conversations were diverse — from spiritual psychology to humorous stories, and childhood traumas to creative cooking. And beneath the surface of our life on the water, we discovered a shared view of how to live it.

Amid those ocean swells, time contracted and expanded. We learned how to sail fast and live slow. Somewhere over the horizon, a spark ignited between us, and we kissed the flame. His anxiety ebbed; our connection flowed. We sailed on. 

One month turned into four, a year into six spent cruising the azure waters of the Caribbean. With his encouragement, I leaned into my true calling and became The Writer On The Water.

As the sun caressed the sea in Bequia one Thanksgiving, Gary gave me a ring that symbolized our extraordinary existence: two diamonds in a sea of sapphires.

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Three months later, with toes in the sand on a deserted beach in Antigua, captain and crew became husband and wife. 

Why? He made me a better me, and I, him. Together we had become greater than the sum of our two selves. Today we celebrate a profound love, a joyous union, and a deep gratitude for this fulfilled life.

We share our story to reiterate it is never too late to open our minds and believe anything is possible. (That said, Gary is still allergic to pecans.)

Niamh McAnally is an Irish-born bestselling author, keynote & corporate speaker, former TV director, and youngest daughter of the late BAFTA award-winning actor, Ray McAnally, and actor, Ronnie Masterson. Niamh has traveled all over the world and lived and worked as a volunteer in many island nations in the Caribbean and the South Pacific. She now lives on the southwest coast of Florida with her husband.