In the movies, when the long-lost father/mother/brother/sister/whatever crosses paths with their kin, directors show us the visceral connection. Look in their eyes; they know something just happened. Nice for story lines, but no connection to reality.
Tag: dreams
3-Week Itch
Writing music always pulls emotions up closer to the surface. Weather changes make me happy. Or sad. Depends on what changes and how. Listening to my older daughter’s music is always emotional.
But really, I think what I’m feeling today is the 3-week itch.
We’ve noticed as we travel that when we land somewhere for a while, at about the 3-week mark, we start to get itchy feet. Fiona starts asking “When are we going to drive again? I’m tired of being in houses.” Sue starts looking for places to go; organising events and coming up with reasons to be on the go, on the road.
Me? I just get fidgety, cranky, and distracted.
We love being here in Arizona. Terry and Virgie are even more dear than they were before we came. Nothing is wrong.
I just wanna leave.
Songwriters have used the wind as a metaphor (or maybe it’s a simile) for ages. Some of us live our lives knowing we have to see what’s around that bend, over the hill, across that river or in the next little town.
I can’t see that from inside a house. Adventure isn’t parading past our door looking for me.
Nomads don’t settle. Nomads move; we’re made from the wind and the sea and the sky, and precious little earth.
I’m a whirling flowing wind that needs to blow.
Big Book Launch (And We Helped!)
Last night our friend Kari Hagensmith had a book release party for her first book, The Girlfriend Will . . . which we helped create. Our Someday Box service helps people get their book out of the ‘someday’ box and into their hands.
I Want to Live at the Edge of a Lake
After an event we drove around Lac Davignon. The causeway across the lake, the trees along the shore, the houses reflecting in the rippled surface . . . it’s a memory I wanted to keep.
We weren’t talking about anything of consequence so I dropped in three of my songs which almost fit within the 10 minutes of the video. Since I didn’t bother listing them in the video . . .
- You In My Arms
- Pax Aurora
- In a Midnight Sky
Scary Suspension Bridge Over Vancouver’s Lynn Canyon
Catching up on some more video from our Vancouver trip. Someone told us about this swinging scary bridge 150 above the floor of Lynn Canyon, so of course, we had to go see.
Fiona was very brave. I don’t know what Sue was, but she seemed to like it.
Here’s proof that I crossed it. Twice. Will I cross it again? Ever? Dunno.
Montreal Itinerary
Looks like it’s going to take 2 full weeks, 14 days, to make Montreal. Guess I’m not the road warrior I thought I was, but I just can’t imagine pushing that hard for that long. Also, I guess I can’t just drop in on my Mom, who I haven’t seen in nearly 10 years, for a single night. (We’ll be back later to spend a couple weeks with her.)
I’ll be reconnecting with an uncle and aunt I haven’t seen in nearly 30 years, staying with a musical buddy who’s slept on my couch, staying with a friend who just moved from here a few weeks ago, and meeting a couple folks who’ve become incredibly close online but whom I’ve not yet hugged in real life.
Update 1:Thanks to Jerry Kennedy‘s reminder nudge, we checked out Couchsurfing.org and found a place in Albuquerque.
Update 2:I didn’t check with enough people in Toronto, so one of them checked with me. H’ray for Debs, my musical friend in Toronto!
| Thursday | 30 | Sep | Home | Phoenix | Terry |
| Friday | 1 | Oct | Phoenix | Phoenix | “ |
| Saturday | 2 | Oct | Phoenix | Albuquerque | Sonja |
| Sunday | 3 | Oct | Albuquerque | Denver | Jason |
| Monday | 4 | Oct | Denver | Rapid City | Denny |
| Tuesday | 5 | Oct | Rapid City | Arlington | Mimi |
| Wednesday | 6 | Oct | Arlington | Rice Lake | Mom |
| Thursday | 7 | Oct | Rice Lake | Rice Lake | “ |
| Friday | 8 | Oct | Rice Lake | Rice Lake | “ |
| Saturday | 9 | Oct | Rice Lake | Fremont | Charlie |
| Sunday | 10 | Oct | Fremont | Fremont | “ |
| Monday | 11 | Oct | Fremont | Toronto | Debs |
| Tuesday | 12 | Oct | Toronto | Ottawa | Shawn |
| Wednesday | 13 | Oct | Ottawa | Granby | Cristina |
The Real Challenge
I wrote a few days ago that the real challenges are inside us; the journey simply exposes them.
Here’s my challenge: guilt.
And I don’t even know, for certain, why.
I feel like I’m cheating the system. Living without the cost of a house and its utilities is less expensive. I know a lot of people who’d travel if only their significant other wanted to, or the kids were older or not born yet or whatever; if only they had a job that blah blah blah.
Everyone I talk to says, how nice for you. Some of them seem to mean, that’s great; how can I make it better? But I feel, sometimes, like there’s a subtext of, sure, you get to go driving all over creation, dragging your wife and little girl along, while the rest of us have to have a real job and be mature and keep civilisation from collapsing.
Yeah, maybe that’s it; that’s where the guilt comes from, in part. What nonsense.
It is not wrong to live an unconventional lifestyle. I’ve lived conventional. For years, I had work (which I loved) which was in an office. I had other responsibilities in life which made a location-specific life make the most sense.
Now, that’s changed. We’ve built businesses which are location independent. Certain spiritual responsibilities are no longer mine, at least for the time being. Fiona’s school allows her to go where and when we go. My friendships are worldwide, many of them virtual (which I’d like to change, which is another reason to travel.)
The only value in guilt is when we’ve done something wrong and need to correct our path.
Nothing doing. There’s no reason for guilt here. I am making good choices with my family’s best interests at heart.
Still, it lingers, that angry voice in the back of my head, whining about responsibility, what I owe.
Ah well. I’ll keep listening to the voices that make sense.
Fiona Needs More Rooms
Yes, ‘rooms’, plural.
As I was making lunch she sat at the counter telling me about how boring our house is.
“I’ve seen every room in the house, and no matter how many times I look, there aren’t any new rooms. I wish we could add two hundred million more rooms so I wouldn’t be bored.”
Two hundred million is her favorite (or at least most-referenced) number lately.
The little one, like her Daddy, seems to thrive on constant stimulation. She’s infinitely curious, which is probably the source of her voracious reading.
Now she needs more rooms.
Sue’s Thoughts of the Great Big Scheme
Where do I start? So much has happened in the last two weeks. We’ve had wonderful supporters and of course those who have their concerns. We’ve tried to address any concerns and realize that there will always be those who don’t fully support our ideas. That’s okay. I wanted to to step back and start from the beginning and share my perspective of how this all started, where we’re at and where we hope to go.
There’s no one factor in our making any of these decisions. There are several: happiness, spirituality, family, work, friends and more. Each of these factors need to be considered as we move forward.
We’ve had virtual businesses for several years and many of our clients are elsewhere in the country or in other parts of the world. Lately we’ve been looking for ways to grow our business so we can continue to meet our financial obligations. As the economy has worsened, our businesses have taken a hit as well. So we decided we needed to look at ways to cut expenses. We’ve already cut back to a very simple life. Our biggest expenses are housing and transportation. If we could cut back, or even out, those expenses, we could continue to meet our financial obligations.
Since we already have clients all over the world, it only made sense to see if we could use those connections to reach out and grow our business by going to where the work is – all over the world. We want to simplify and make a living while some of our clients cannot afford ongoing coaching. However, some are willing to trade room and board in exchange for our coaching services. It’s a win/win situation.
At the same time we get to have a lot of fun doing what we love and make a living, we also have to consider other factors. One of the most important factors is our daughter. We need to make sure she’s safe, continues receiving an education, and maintains friendships. Researching what others have done while traveling with children has been a big help. Check out these blogs by Maya Frost and SoulTravelers3 for more information about traveling with children.
Fiona is still young. What a great chance she’ll have to be educated in other cultures, broaden her horizon, meet new people and make friends all over the world. In a few years maybe we’ll still reach our dream of living in Ireland. Maybe we’ll end up right back where we’re at. Maybe none of this will happen. We may come back from Canada in August and realize this won’t work for us. Nothing is set in stone.
We’ll continue to take one day at a time and make choices each day that keep our priorities straight and benefit our family. And yes, we want to hear from you!
The Reasons Haven’t Changed
It’s going like gangbusters. We have sponsors. We have prospects for work above and beyond what we’d normally be doing in August. We have what we’d normally be doing in August, still happening. Support. Cheers from the crowd. Enthusiasm and excitement.
And I found myself thinking, boy, now we have to go.
No we don’t. Not if we’re doing it because of someone else, we don’t. That’s what this is all about, doing what we expect from ourselves instead of what others expect.
So hear this: if we change our minds, we can give the sponsorship funds back. If we make one trip and decide we’re not nomads after all, we can stay home.
Sorry; no, I’m not talking to you.
I’m talking to me.