Born To Be Wild – We Are

How wonderful is it really?

To have this opportunity?

 

To have this TIME.

 

To experience the sheer wonder of it all…..

 

Forgive. Every. Single. Day.

When I say I forgive…
I mean….
I FORGIVE.
Literally
100%
Every Single Day.

It is hard… it is not easy… it is a struggle some days more than others because the HURT is there pushing its ugly face in my direction… but I acknowledge the hurt… accept it… and let it go.

Forgiveness is the greatest thing I can give MYSELF.
And I continue to make that choice.. EVERY DAY.
Some days are easier than others. Some days I see the HURT in my own children and the forgiveness pushes back and there is spite.. there is WHY?!!!! … there is BUT IT’s NOT FAIR… there is BUT it DOESN’T MAKE SENSE….

However…. Through all the struggles.. (daily) — I am given the freedom to make the choice… AND I DO. And I am relieved every time I do — TO FORGIVE… to let go…. to breathe.. and to move on….

Have a blessed day. I know I will. 🙂

Who out there (I wonder) would join me in forgiving others as they have wronged you?)
Who out there can see past the spite.. past the vindictive tendencies we have inside…
and just LET IT GO !?!?

Can you imagine where your life will be… 5 years from now?

(that’s the magic time line… 5 years…. 5 years from now…. WHERE will you be and WHAT will you be doing?!)

Will you make a difference in 5 years? Will you try?

~ Cheers — good day — 🙂

Take Vacations … Happy People …. The time is now…

 

I wish I could constantly be surrounded with people who “get it” about travel – seeing new things – doing new things –

But for now….. I’ll just surround myself and amuse myself with these posts of quotes/pictures that make my heart happy.

If I sit still too long I get antsy. I like seeing and doing new things. I can not sit at home all the time and just be in a ROUTINE without the opportunity to try new things or venture off past the horizon….

All I can hope is that everyone out there somehow gets this travel bug before they’re too old to act upon it…
Such a happy life…

I am content. And THIS is a vacation of sorts. I am happy now. The time is now. (I think of the song.. shining happy people now by REM)

NOW — I can NOT help but insert the video to go with it… MUST LISTEN. MUST appreciate. Must dance along. 🙂
Enjoy the ride.. this is life. Today. Now. And it’s Hilariously Awesome.

Smiles and Ambition and Dreams and Motivation. Yes, Please!

 

 

 

Having Experiences are Worth More than Having STUFF

If I can instill ONE thing into my children that rages so strongly inside of me….. It would be this….

Do not collect STUFF (or collect it but don’t hold it as high importance)

But rather..
GO
SEE
DO
FIND
EXPLORE
RESEARCH
TRY and FAIL
ASK QUESTIONS
and KEEP SEARCHING

Make sure you collect EXPERIENCES

(The kind of experiences you can transform into out of this world stories you can tell over a camp fire)

Another one of my favorite quotes that I try to live by and set an example by….

Says SO MUCH in so few words… and I love it….

Have Less
Do More

You Only Live Once

 

When are you going to go somewhere or try something new?

What are you going to do with yourself that is incredibly awesome today?

Whose life can you possibly influence in a positive way?

 

Travel = Joy

 

THIS makes me exuberant.  I had to share.  🙂  Happy Travels !!!!!

 

 

 

Everything else seems to fade away when you see and experience the sheer wonder of what this world has to offer ……

 

(just makes me over sad how SO MANY PEOPLE have no clue or don’t respect the vast beauty of what’s right in front of them)

 

Stay +

 

😀

Good Bye Havasu –

The past 11 months have been swell…..

Time for this adventure to begin —

 

Off we go — 😀

 

 

 

Some day ——– I’ll buy a boat. And jet skis. And 4 wheelers. And dirt bikes. And we’ll be back.

Not entirely a “Havasu” song… but it’s happy… and I share happy —  😀

 

Havasu is a very unique place. There’s a lot of fun to be had. We just happened to spend our year relaxing and enjoying the view.

Step 7 — Packed with solar christmas lights and all

We have just about everything packed…. kids are comfortable with the set up… they know what to touch.. what not to touch.. we’ve talked about emergency exits…

The kids even helped me cook on the mini grill.. just for fun… 😀  And per usual… they had to share strawberries too 🙂

Moved sleeping bags 15 times before deciding on a final location…   So funny…..

I’m almost ready to say.. we’re 95% packed
We are… dare I say… we are almost ready…..

🙂

Selling or Giving Away EVERYTHING Again

We did this last year when we were leaving New York….

I had a yard sale. and another yard sale. And then got to the point where I wanted STUFF gone.

 

So GONE it went.

 

 

This year it is very different.  I did not actually buy most of the things around us….  I had so many things donated that I have tried to donate things back out and really am not asking for much when it comes to selling things….  Every single dollar counts but I don’t want to “make something” from nothing.   I appreciate all the generosity from this city…. the people here really helped us with the transition into the city.   I have one of the best landlords I have ever met and couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to surround myself with in the past 11 months…..    I am truly sad and have cried my fair share of tears about leaving a place where we can live in peace, feel safe, and comfortable.   Without a select few helping hands to reach out and say “What can I do to help?” — this year would have been VERY difficult.   The stress of trying to “make it” and be able to just get by would have overwhelmed me…..  But it didn’t…… The people in this city are willing to help when they see someone who needs a little lift up.   They have services here for families in need.  We fell into that category but I made too much money to qualify for any ‘assistance’.   We were blessed with help in more ways than I can count and no amount of THANK YOU will cover my gratitude.

The commute every single day was exhausting and I’m mostly GLAD that it is over….     WHO would have thought?!!!??  A school district without a school bus system….. (It wasn’t on my list of questions to ask when I started researching the area/schools).  I learned.  Oh, how I learned.  AND — I love learning… so all is well.

I look around our house right now and sigh a bit of relief.   More than half of our “STUFF” is gone….   I have packed up some brand new clothes (donated to us) and am sending them to New York so they’re there for us when we arrive……   I have packed up the motor home….  decorated it slightly with some dollar store stickers and homemade curtains from my Nana who wished me well on my way 11 months ago. She helped me ‘decorate’ the travel trailer that we drove all the way here… and put her heart and soul into the curtains we now have….. (I’m a “THROW IT TOGETHER AND JUST PUT IT UP” kind of person and she’s the “Let me measure this 10 times, cut it once, sew it… ooops the stitch is crooked… take stitch out… re-sew it…. and it’s PERFECTLY MADE” kind of person)

I look around and we no longer have chairs to sit at to eat dinner… (we’ve been having “picnics” on a blanket in the living room — or just going outside to eat — or going in the camper to giggle at our upcoming adventure)

I look around the bedrooms and only my bed is left (I have someone coming to take it the day we leave) — My kids have had BRAND NEW BEDS the entire time we were here… and it was WONDERFUL… but they usually didn’t sleep in their beds anyway… I’d put them to sleep in the beds but they’d end up on the floor in front of the fan or in the hallway or in the bathtub or in the closet or at the foot of my bed or in bed with me… etc….. I would find them all over in different places… OTHER THAN in their nice new beds. 🙂

I look around and see only a few toys lingering around. I see only a couple outfits. I no longer see decorations on the walls. I no longer see papers of artwork all over the place. I miss my pictures (obsessed with pictures only SLIGHTLY)……. I have to go out to the motor home to get my ‘picture fix’.

The garage is empty…. The back yard is empty….
The bathrooms are pretty much empty….. The cupboards are almost empty….

Living “Less Is More” — is my favorite way to live.

Cheers ~

STEP 2 — Getting used to the rig… Checking out everything….

3 Happy Hooligans —- Incredibly happy to call this rig their new home….

We went to get our propane tank checked out and the nice gentleman there informed me that the gauge on my tank doesn’t actually WORK in the heat of Arizona… so I have a FULL TANK (blessing in disguise because propane is not cheap)….  He gave me a TON of pointers and offered to help me in any way in order to “get to know” my rig and make sure everything was working right…..  I thanked him for his time… and after chatting with him about our trip to Arizona… then our year in Havasu… and our new adventure ahead of us we were on our way… So off we go.

The motor home is now just a background figment in our lives.  We see it all the time and the kids are excited about naming the rig….  They had been throwing out all sorts of crazy names when they finally settled upon the name of “Stella Luna” based on a book that I read to them all the time… “Stella” for short.

The kids have been helpful at selling things and one day I caught the oldest happy hooligan by the road (he’s not ALLOWED near the road because it’s a busy street) — but there he was when I looked over… with his “FOR SALE” sign (and price tags on his hats because he wanted to help sell things for our trip to New York (bless his heart… he makes me happy). He did pitch his sale to a few people who came to buy other things ($90 for one hat and $100 for the other) but he had no buyers… I tried to suggest that those prices were a little high for the items he was selling but he said the right buyer will pay him.

We’ve just spent a lot of time looking in cabinets, under the hood, under the rig… and trying to sell things that we KNOW for sure we wouldn’t be taking with us on this trip…..