Beautiful Chaos

July2014

 

I’m not sure there are words to describe the last month before you embark on a pick-up-and-leave-everything-lifestyle like this. Beautiful chaos. That is the closest way to describe it. I honestly never thought we had so much stuff. Then you see it. You see it spread across your lawn for the yard sale(s), you see it shoved in sheds and rooms, and in every corner of your house.

It is everywhere. What is all this stuff, anyway? It really does seem so unnecessary to have it all. After each item sells, a new sense of liberation comes over us. Whatever small emotional ties we had are soon replaced with a whiff of adventure. When we part with something, we don’t simply lose it, these things are replaced with the things we really want—kayaks, boogie boards, fishing poles, bikes, you know…fun things. As I like to tell the kids, “welcome to our new life.”  

Sorting through everything has been exhausting.  Along with the intense downsizing, we also have two properties we have been diligently fixing up. It has been a full time job, to say the least. Motivation comes when you realize once it is all finished we are free to go, free to live our life without borders, free to raise our sails and go where the wind carries us. That is our motivation. Each day is one day closer.

Through the selling all of our things with the yard sale and Craigslist, we have been presented with a grand opportunity to meet so many incredible people. People we would have never otherwise met. It’s funny how a conversation can take a drastic turn when you tell someone you are moving your family into an RV to tour the country. This opens up a door to hear about their stories and adventures, and their similar dreams to do BIG things. We have also been contacted by people through our website who share this dream. We have been inspired by so many families this way and hope we can do the same for other families as well (whatever their dreams may be). One of the aspects of this journey is to build deeper relationships with people we come in contact with and make a positive difference, we are blessed to have been given these opportunities so quickly. It has been inspiring to us the overwhelming support through our family, Facebook friends and newfound friends. It has been a beautiful experience and one I wouldn’t trade.

In this time, we have been side by side with our kids. Our family is working together, playing together, exercising together, and learning the joy of being together. This is our new life. One that I am so excited to live. A life about the journey and not about the destination. We have chosen to live this life of beautiful chaos and the ride has just begun.