人生で一番大切なものは？そして、足りないと感じているものは？

This week, let’s discuss two main questions: 1) What are the things that are most important in your life and 2) what, if anything, is missing in your life?

I was thinking about this question after I read a news story about a family that just returned to the US after a 7-year journey around the world on their 43 foot (13 meter) sailboat.

In 2001, Tom and Kathy Crafton were a successful couple living in Alaska with their three children. They both had good jobs but they said they felt like something was missing in their lives. So after taking sailing lessons, they sold their home in Alaska and and most of their belongings and left on a journey with no timeline and no destination. They didn’t know how long they would be gone and they didn’t really care. They said they did it because they wanted to be closer as a family and they wanted to find happiness and adventure.

All in all, they traveled to 23 different countries and sailed over 48,000 kilometers. And now that they are back in the US, they said they feel like life has a different meaning. They said they now appreciate life and their family more and that their journey gave them the opportunity to slow down. They said they miss the adventure but they are forever changed by their journey.

If you want to see a video of their story, please click this video link. （最初の１５秒はコマーシャルが流れます。）

So how about you? What is important to you? Is there anything missing in your life? And if there is something missing, how can you get it? I will look forward to hearing your answers when we speak this week.

Keith//

This week’s vocabulary:

What is missing in your life
人生で何か足りないか？

journey
旅

sailboat
ヨット

belongings
所有物

timeline
タイムライン

destination
行く先/目的地

life has a different meaning
人生が（今までとは）違う意味を持つ

appreciate
感謝する

opportunity
機会

slow down
スピードダウンする

they are forever changed by their journey
彼らは、その旅によって、永遠に変わってしまった。