A few months after Mamma Mia! was released in 2008, my grandma told me and my sisters that it was a must-watch. The three of us sat down with our mom to watch the jukebox musical and loved it. We saw ourselves in the Dynamos and danced to every song in our Disney princess pajamas. Every day for months afterward, at least one of us could be heard singing along to the soundtrack. When I was in middle school, I made the permanent name switch from Sophia to Sophie after another rewatch, inspired by the main character, Sophie Sheridan. Now 15 years later, my sisters and I could probably recite every line because it’s our favorite comfort movie, whether we are watching it together or alone.
For me, the film has gone beyond being just a comfort movie, it has inspired me to live my life the way I want. The first time I viewed the movie, I was only six years old and I was in shock that the character Bill lived on a boat. It was a concept that I had never considered before since as far as I knew, people only lived on land. So, I assumed that the writers must have made it up just to make him look cool. But I still dreamed of being able to live on a boat myself, I just didn’t think it was possible.
It wasn’t just the awe of Bill’s lifestyle that kept me enthralled with the movie for the last 15 years, I also couldn’t get enough of the setting. Set and filmed in Greece, every scene of the movie features a beautiful landscape or colorful Greek decor and architecture. I wanted to be there, so I began daydreaming of traveling to the Mediterranean and starting my trip in Santorini, Greece. So naturally, I approached my parents and suggested that on a whim and with no planning, our family of six should travel to Greece. I don’t think I need to say what answer they gave me. But that was the first time I remember feeling wanderlust and I haven’t really been able to shake the feeling since.
I spent years racking my brain trying to figure out what I could do with my life that would allow me to travel often, constantly wishing that I could just live on a boat. It wasn’t until I was about 14 years old that I found out people actually do live on boats. This realization happened when I discovered the YouTube channel, Sailing La Vagabonde. It’s a channel featuring an Australian couple who live aboard their sailboat, now with their two children. As soon as I realized that this lifestyle is a real possibility for me, I had to figure out how to get myself there.
I currently don’t know how I would find the funds to buy a sailboat, so only the future will tell if I get to live out that dream. I did, however, become determined to still find a way to live on the ocean. When I was 15, I decided I would become a yacht stewardess. I know, I know, so what am I going to college for?
I realized that I have spent too much of my life wanting to travel just to start my career immediately after college. Life really isn’t that serious, and I want to have fun living it. I don’t want to look back on my life and only see the inside of an office, I want to see Greece!
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