All I can say today is WOW! Life sure is full of curves isn’t it? It was a curve to find myself living with an active addict. It was a curve when I found recovery. It was a curve when I met a man I didn’t believe existed. It was a whirlwind curve when we decided to get married and move 300 miles away. And GUESS WHAT! I think we may be headed into yet another curve!
So, some of you have known me for a while and you might remember about 4-5 years ago I started planning my retirement. I decided that when my son graduated from high school I would quit my job, sell everything, and travel in a tiny house. At that time I was single and ready to live out an adventure. I started planning every aspect of how I would make the transition. I even bought the design and construction plans so that I could get started building and have my tiny house complete by the time I was ready to hit the road. At that time the departure goal was the fall of 2018.
At the time, I was single and facing an empty nest alone. I couldn’t envision myself sitting in that 1800 square foot house waiting for visits from my son dreaming of grandchildren and slowly wasting away. Perhaps it would be helpful to know from where I originate. You see, my maternal grandparents were snowbirds in the 1980’s. They retired early (pre-age 65) and decided to travel to Florida during the winter months and stay in their mobile home in Indiana during the summers. They started with a travel trailer and a Chevy Suburban. They retired and hit the road.
As a result of watching my grandparents retire early, my parents followed suit in true adventure style. They also retired pre-age 65 and instead of hitting the road, they decided to sail the seas. They spent their first few years of retirement living on a 40 foot Hatteras. Yes, they were full-time boaters and have all the stories to prove it. They even have a few pictures too. After a brief land-locked hiatus, they decided to move in-to a 40 foot RV and travel the nation. As I write this, they are currently at Big Bend National Park enjoying the beautiful scenery on the first leg of their trip to Alaska.
Given what I’ve just shared, is it any wonder I would long to adventure post parental responsibilities? I didn’t think so. But you know the saying “the best laid plans”, right? So, shortly after I started really getting into the planning stage of my plan, I met and started dating a quite interesting man. One that I actually didn’t mind spending time with and getting to know. This was quite uncommon in my world. Uncommon and yet intriguing. As I continued to spend time with this man, I decided to invite him over for dinner. After dinner, we somehow started discussing future plans. YIPPEE!!! I pulled out my resource and vision books and enthusiastically started sharing my plans to travel in a tiny house. When I slowed to take a breath, saw the look on his face, I realized in that moment that this man was borderline mortified. I knew that I was going to have to face this curve and decide just how important it was to me to be a third generation nomad.
Well, the verdict was in before June 2017 that I would be willing to forgo my tiny house dream in order to have a life partner. We would simply have to create a new adventurous life together. One that did not include a tiny house. My solo traveling dream was quietly laid to rest in order to make new dreams with this amazing man. Although I must confess, I kept all of the books tucked away for posterity’s sake. (YES, those are my books on the coffee table in my living room in the feature picture!)
Last year I broached the subject of getting a camper with my husband. I’ve always loved camping and we had even camped together a couple of times at the river before we got married so I thought he might entertain the idea. Did he ever!!! Within a few weeks, we purchased a gently used 20 foot travel trailer. We brought her home mid-August and by the time we winterized her in early November we had been out 5 times. We are currently anxious for spring weather so we can get her cleaned up and ready for the 2019 camping season. We already have 6 trips scheduled and couldn’t be more excited. As we’ve been discussing the needs and where we want to go, the mister has gotten quite the travel bug. In fact, over the last few weeks he has expressed his desire to take to the road full-time. Not just once in passing, but he has mentioned it so often that I finally had to ask if he was serious. HE IS!!!
We have started watching videos of some full-time rv’ers and getting ideas about how to get into the full-time lifestyle. It looks like there is more than one way to travel tiny!!! I’m absolutely over-the-moon excited that he is on-board with living in a tiny house (opps, RV) and willing to give it a chance. We both know it may or may not work for us in the long run but believe it is something we have to at least try. My dream of being a 3rd generation nomad looks like it just might actually happen!
Just another curve in the game of life folks. How I handle the curves in my life determines how happy I am. You see, I had to GIVE UP the dream I had of traveling tiny in order to accommodate the curve of meeting my Mr. Perfect. I willingly GAVE UP and I was exponentially happy with my new life with Mr. Perfect. And now, life has curved again so I will GIVE UP the preconceived vision I had of our retirement together without traveling tiny in order to re-embrace that dream (with a few minor modifications) so that I can continue to be exponentially happy with this new way of living.
I can’t share enough how instrumental GIVING UP is in my personal happiness. How do you handle life’s curves? Are they weighing you down? Preventing you from experiencing happiness?
Are you ready to talk about it? Are you ready to choose happiness? Email me, let’s reason it out.
Until next time, take care of yourself and find the next right thing to do.
All will be well,
Niki