New Life

It seems to me that as soon as you get comfortable with life, somethings bound to happen to bring you back down. I try to put that belief aside and enjoy the moment. I'll admit right now that I'm a stresser. Come on, it's in my blood(right mom). I'm trying real hard to work on that. It just seems to be one struggle after another. So has soon as the paychecks start rolling in, the savings account starts growing and life just seems to be rolling happily along....lightening strikes.

Not long ago we were living in Bend, Oregon which is a beauty of it's own. We thought we'd never leave. I quickly learned this summer that Bend is somewhat of an "island", and oasis in the desert. So as the economy fails us, Bend is slowly becoming a ghost town. At least that's what it seemed like to me.

The story goes like this::::Jason got laid off in May. I tried real hard not to freak out and trust that these things happen for a reason. Something better always comes along. I allowed myself to enjoy a playful,stress-free summer camping in the mountains and swimming in the clear, cold lakes with my family. That was until my job shut their doors. Without warning both of us were unemployed. Again, I tried real hard not to lose it, keep calm and breath. But with 3 kids to feed and rent and bills to pay, that just wasn't happening. Is this how I wanted to spend my time. Having anxiety and stressing about what was next? Wasting away reading the classified ads in the paper, on the internet or any other place I might find a job. Reality was, there just weren't any jobs out there for us to be found.
The time had come. Time to leave Bend.



The decision itself wasn't hard. Traveling and exploring is something we love and hitting the open road with our kids was always a dream. There were always jobs to report to in the morning and spelling tests at school. Now with no alarm clock needed to be set it seemed like a no brainer. It was time for us to go out and find a new "Bend".
Without time to really let it process, we decided to hold a yard sale the next weekend and sell all unnecessary belongings and shop for an RV. You would never believe the amount of..should I say it....CRAP, that we sold. As people pulled away with our life in their backseats we scrambled to throw everything else into our new home.
In under 2 weeks we had found a house on wheels, sold or stored everything we owned, said tearful goodbyes to our friends and drove onto the open road.
Our first stop is Anacortes, WA.
We've been here for 5 weeks now, going through the transition of sharing space, when in fact we have no space. Laughing with new friends and crying over missed ones back home. Trying to figure out how the hell to homeschool (or roadschool, as those who travel full time call it). Becoming best friends with quarters, as one of those will get you a 1 3/4 minute shower or clean clothes...whichever is more important the day you collect enough. Taking anyone up on dinner offers or driveway hookups. Being shameless and proud.
Remembering that all of us our going to have our days. Days when we just feel down and lonely. Because those will be few. The days with smiles, laughter and new adventures far outweigh the cold.
This is just the beginning.