New Year's Eve - Looking Back

 On the last day of the year, I like to take time to look back over the months of the previous year. 

This year I am also taking time to step back and notice that this is the 10th anniversary of another rather spectacular NYE.  That evening found us in BB King’s Blues Club on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, enjoying catfish & ribs and some great music.

On that NYE in 2014 we were just striking out on our second winter in the RV - this time in the southern states - where we would live on for one month each on three different islands.

That first year of RV life had been an amazing adventure.  We lived in that second-hand fifth-wheel for more than 7 months that year -  working in Southern California from January through May and traveling to Alaska in June and July before landing back in Michigan until selling the Christmas tree farm later in the year.  What a phenomenal year it had been.  So that NYE dinner on Beale Street and camping on the other side of the Mississippi River became a significant transition moment in our lives.

And now here we are this NYE - living a smaller and less dramatic adventure - on one side of the street watching the snowflakes fluttering down and waiting for the moment when we will be able to move to the newly rescued and refurbished house across the street.

Global culture - and rice and curry

Rice and curry - Yum!

Takes me back to my childhood when a family from India visited our little town. The wife offered to cook an Indian meal for us so my mom took her to the store to TRY to find the necessary ingredients. And so I had my first taste of rice and curry. 

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Fast forward a few years to when I was introduced to my husband’s aunt and her version of African rice and curry. She had lived in Africa for 40 years and her recipe quickly became a favorite of mine. She often made rice and curry for big family dinners - much to my delight!

Fast forward again to the present time...  




Rice and curry - Indian style again.

Diwali Night in the Grand Ballroom at UM-Flint

We were treated to a cultural extravaganza of song and dance and beautiful Indian fashion - AND rice and curry. 

What a fun evening!  How cool to hang out with such beautiful people.

Pretty much all my life I’ve been drawn to people from other cultures and particularly International students. I have such fond memories from my childhood of students from Africa that my aunt and uncle used to bring to family gatherings. Oh, the exciting stories.

Through the years my wish to hang out with people from other countries has intensified. I am convinced that exposure to other cultures is one of the coolest things that can happen to a person - of any age. 

The memories of those guys from Africa who came to our family gatherings with my cousins have stuck with me to this day. Because of those encounters we chose to be intentional about finding ways to welcome Internationals into our family as well. Oh, how fun it is to have friends on six continents!

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And NOW…

One of the things that attracted us to our current location was the proximity to the universities in Flint where lots of Internationals study. Getting to know some of them has been one of our top goals. And that is how we ended up at Diwali Night.  What a privilege to enjoy this celebration of one of their biggest cultural events, the Festival of Light.

I am thrilled to have made this connection with International students - first when they gave us henna tattoos at the Flint Farmers’ Market and now at Diwali Night. 

This event also provided connections with students from other countries as well - so I'm hopeful that this is just the beginning.  In fact, I just learned that there might be a chance to include some new friends in our Thanksgiving plans again.  Wouldn't that be fun?  Sorta' like old times! 

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I guess I had some pretty good insight when I was a kid.  I thought it was just about the coolest thing ever to know somebody from another country.

Sure enough. 

Now I know it is.

I also know what a privilege it is. And I am grateful.

Life on the road - or not

Four months.

That’s how long we’ve been here in our new home.

This home without wheels.

Off the road.

From the RV into an apartment.

It was a big move.

A major shift in direction for us.

A change of venue - of a different sort.

Yes, we had discovered that we do indeed enjoy living on the road but it felt like it was time to put down roots again at least for awhile. To be able to get involved in long-term activities. To live without major deadlines every month.

Downsizing

This was a big move in another way - because it involves a big project.

One of our major reasons to settle down for a bit is so that we can “finish” at least Phase One of our downsizing. 

Yes, we had already moved out of the big house and had lived in tiny quarters for awhile. But… we had not really finished the sorting and pitching.  Ran out of time… or energy or motivation or focus or whatever. Consequently too many books and papers and keepsakes were still in bins and boxes which had to be moved from one storage shed to another. So this is the time for that. To finish that process.  That huge job that is almost done.

We did succeed in emptying out the storage unit less than a month after moving in to our apartment, but there are still things piled in corners and closets awaiting our sorting. AND there are still 15-20 boxes in our utility trailer. Gradually we are dealing with one box and then another. Things have been taken to Goodwill and to the dumpster. The shredder is kept consistently busy. Empty boxes have been passed off to people who need them. Much has been done but there is still much to do.

Kid care

We picked this location to be near two of the grands and close enough to the third to get there when needed. We are delighted to be able to see them all fairly often and to be able to give their moms a break now and then.

Cousin time is so fun and I'm thrilled to be able to join in the adventures!

Occupation

I never seem to find enough time to do all that I wish to do. We both have several projects occupying our time and our creative efforts. After investing many months to music last year, hubby’s focus is on photography and art this year - even involving grandkids in one big project. 

I am getting more serious than ever about my writing. I am enrolled in online courses, have discovered a writing group in the next town and am vigorously editing one of my NaNoWriMo projects that I wrote several years ago.

Living life - and loving life

After four months, we love it here and often talk that we might end up here for a long time. That we might enjoy having a home base. Our little town offers pretty much every fast food franchise known to man as well as several other eateries that we’ve barely begun to try. It is great fun being so close to a metropolitan area. One of our favorite places is the wonderful Flint Farmers’ Market - where we hope to begin spending more time.

Travel?

This settling in does not mean that we are done traveling. In fact, it kinda’ gives us more travel options.  Many spots across Michigan are accessible as day trips. Now that we have a little red car, we are planning to take lots of road trips. In fact, we just did - to New England to celebrate our 45th anniversary. And we still have our RV parked in our daughter’s yard where it provides a home away from home when we visit her. We will hitch that up occasionally for camping trips - like when we visit our friends working at the Big Sable Lighthouse north of Ludington in a few weeks.

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So I guess you could say we’ve turned a corner. 

Changed direction a bit in our wanderings. 

So far we love this new trajectory.

Wild adventures

One of the wonderful things about living near our kids is that we can help with child care now and then. This spring we were on grandparent duty for a week while mom and dad went out of town for a conference.  

We did the pre-school drop-offs and pick-ups.

We handled nap time and bed-time.

We went to the library and got books and music and videos.

We went to the playgrounds behind our place and we went to the park. 

We found a couple “new” McDonald’s to check out their playlands.

We had good times.  

We had wild times.  

Times when things didn't go quite as planned. 

Times where high hopes turned into tears.

Times that were not all fun and games. 

Times that weren't quite perfect.

Times that we began to call wild adventures. 

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Well, then, once they were all back home together as a family with Mom and Dad again, they had some wild adventures of their own.  Their dad tells about one of them here.

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Sometimes wild adventures happen.

Things we wouldn't have chosen.

Things we would rather not have to deal with.

But adventures are not always fun and games.

Sometimes you have to hold on to your hat or let go of your expectations.

Sure enough.

Off the road again - for the moment

Two years ago we were leaving our first work-camping job in southern California and heading north up the coast on our way to Alaska.

Two months ago we signed a one-year lease and moved into an apartment in mid-Michigan.

It has been an interesting journey. 

Nearly six years ago we had made the decision to downsize and sell the farm. 

We wanted the freedom to travel but especially to be able to visit our kids - and maybe even live near them. I guess we’ve done that. We spent the first five months of our life on the road near our youngest in soCal and then a month very near her in Alaska. We lived near our middle daughter last summer and near our oldest last fall.

Our decision had also included the idea of exploring and experiment for awhile - to see if we liked living on the road and to discover places where we might want to spend more time. We had no idea whether (or when or where) we might want to ever buy property again so it seemed like a little exploration was in order.

Sure enough, we discovered lots of things about living on the road that we do enjoy and we found lots of places that we hope to re-visit. We also discovered some things that we don’t so much enjoy - particularly the idea of being away from the kids and grand-kids for so long. Hence our decision to come “off the road” for the next year.

Will we ever live on the road again? 

Who knows? 

We are certainly open to that idea, but we don’t need to know right now. 

Neither do we know how long we will stay in this area, but we don’t need to know that just yet either. 

It is enough to enjoy the moment and to fully appreciate the freedom that we have found by making that momentous decision six years ago and by doing the hard work of downsizing our stuff. That process, by the way, is still not finished. In fact, we are hard at work wrapping it up at this very moment.

The first month back

Once upon a time we were driving along rice paddies and rows and rows of tall palm trees on a palm oil plantation. It had been a good winter in Las Galeras, a little town at the end of the road in the Dominican Republic. We had adjusted to the heat and humidity and maybe even the mosquitos. We were happy with our decision to live closer to town this time. How fun to be able to walk into town each day - for groceries, for French pastries or just to walk the beach. Many days I made more than one trip to town and sometimes accomplished all of the above. But on that particular day we were enroute to the airport to fly home to the good ole’ USA - and had already turned our thoughts to the new happenings on our calendar and especially to our family. 

Once back in Michigan, the first week saw us both sick with whatever stomach bug was making the rounds and surviving an ice storm in our little RV but we also had time to hang out with our kids and grands and both of our moms. We also checked out an apartment that was immediately available to rent - and we decided to take it! Somewhere in there, life got  busy. Soon we were choosing a few things from the RV to take to the new place and moving things from our storage unit. Many of the bins and boxes have not been opened since we moved out of the big house four years ago. We succeeded in emptying the storage unit well before the deadline. Major accomplishment.

And THEN we cared for grand-kids for five days while Mom and Dad attended a conference out-of-state. That week brought great fun, much laughter, lots of hugs, AND total exhaustion for Gramp and Gram.

But, oh what fun to be available to do that! This is exactly why we made the decision to stay put for awhile - to help out with these little guys and just to be near enough to enjoy special occasions with them. Events like a super-hero race!

So here we are - entering a new phase of life. Looking forward to good times ahead. Enjoying the chance to settle down and stay in one place for awhile. Having fun exploring our new community. But no, we are not abandoning travel. To the contrary Bob has already been studying maps to plan the next adventure, but this time with a small home base to come back to in between.

And yes, we will continue to wander about here and there. Now and then.

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In many ways living in Las Galeras is quite different than living in Michigan. And yet some things are actually pretty similar.

• While in the tropics, I was always hot and sweaty; here I can enjoy wearing sleeves and extra layers.
• While there our schedule was pretty simple; here things can get hectic if we let them.
• Down there I could walk along the beach every morning. Not here.
• Down there we did not have a vehicle - so we walked wherever we needed to go. Here we can jump in our truck and drive pretty much anywhere.
• Down there; I missed my grand-kids badly. Now I can get to them within an hour or two.
• Down there I hauled the laundry down the stairs to wash it and then back up when it was clean. Here in our new apartment, I do pretty much the same routine.
• While in Las Galeras, we could seldom get ice cream; here we can find about any flavor we want.
• Down there we didn’t drink the water; here at our daughter’s house in Flint, Michigan, we don’t drink the water either. At least we try to remember not to…

Settling in - it's time

In the couple weeks since we returned from the tropics we have survived an awful stomach bug and an ice storm - both while camping in our little RV. We have also enjoyed reconnecting with all of our kids and both of our moms.

And now we are moving into a new apartment. That's right; after being nomads for a couple years, we have signed a lease. We are making a commitment to stay in one place for awhile.

Why?

Because it's time.

It’s time.

Time to settle down for awhile.

It’s time to settle in and stay put for a season - for a year at least. 

Time to enjoy the four seasons. I’ve missed them and it’s time.

It’s even time to hibernate through a winter after being snow birds for four years. 

It’s time to unpack.

Time to gather all of our stuff in one place so we can finally finish the sorting and organizing and down-sizing. We began the process nearly five years ago and we have made some amazing progress, but still there is to much to deal with.

After living in the big house for 40 years where we had 2800 sq. ft. of space AND several out buildings we ended up living in a 28-foot long RV - with the rest of our stuff crammed into a 10x20 storage unit.

When we made that tumultuous move out of the big house, we had run out of time and energy. Rather than finishing the down-sizing process, too many things got stuffed into bins and boxes and got hauled to one shed and another and then the basement at the log cabin before landing in the storage unit.

It’s time to finish that process. To wrap it up. To go through those bins and boxes and to get rid of more stuff. To let go of the stuff that we don’t need and that holds no real value for us. 

It’s time to stop shuffling and shuttling boxes here and there. It’s time to open them up and really deal with the stuff. It’s time to pick up an item and actually make a decision about it  - and then another. Hopefully it’s time to realize that the entire contents of some boxes can go - to a new home or to the trash - with simply a farewell wave from me. Oh, wouldn’t that be nice?!?

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It’s also time to be near the grandkids and to be available to babysit on the spur of the moment or to pick them up from school or daycare when needed.

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Two of our original reasons to down-size and sell the farm were so that we could be free to be near our grandkids and so that we could travel and explore a bit before deciding whether and where we might want to settle down. We have done both - not enough time being near our grandkids yet but more than enough exploring for now. So it’s time.

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And it’s the right place. We are just a few minutes from two of them and less than two hours from the other. We can get there easily.

There are lots of other reasons why this is the right place for this time - some of which we are only beginning to realize.

But it’s time and we are settling in with big sighs of satisfaction and contentment.