Hey There

Hi friends! How was your weekend? Thank you guys SO much for sharing our excitement on the big news about moving! Gosh, we’re excited. So excited. So much so that I’ve been thinking, “maybe we should just fly there and skip the drive”– but only because I want to get there faster, not because I don’t love a good drive (you guys know this). Which is crazy because I’ve been wanting to do a drive like this for so long now. What an odd contradiction, right? —To finally plan this drive (and make one of my biggest dreams a reality), but then second guess it and debate skipping over it completely… just to make another dream come faster. Does any of this even make sense? Gosh, I hope this “must get there faster feeling” doesn’t last. I want to fully live in each moment and enjoy this trip– this journey. “It’s not the destination” type of self reminding and repeating mantra saying right now. But technically, isn’t it both– a destination and a journey?

Now that I’ve finally spilled our beans– I want to share more about the process. How much we’ve minimized. I was asked what we do with personal things when we rent out our house– and the answer is, we don’t have much. I mean, sure our decor is personal because it is items that we’ve picked up on our travels out of love and for hopefully reminders– but our true personal and “necessary” items are minimal.  I want so share a little bit more on these things— what we are packing, leaving behind, and donating.

I sat on my computer for hours… and hours… and hours this past week mapping out our route. I think I missed my calling. I should have been a personal trip planner. I’m not sure what it is, but there is something so exciting about mapping out journey and something so cathartic about crunching time and distance numbers for me. It makes me question if maybe I should start planning a second group trip to india. But not now of course– not until after I’ve got my feet planted on the rich soil of Guatemala.

I basically spent my weekend zoned out in bed. I had the worst migraine all weekend– I’m almost certain from night time teeth grinding. I still haven’t broken that habit from my hospital stay. (Insert teeth grinding emoji here). But today, I’m up again. Today I’ve begun packing for our trip to Colombia. And today I will begin mapping a second 49 hour route to Guatemala. 49 hours— without stops. Man, thats amazing.

I’ve been so emotional this weekend. Not in a bad way. Not in a sad way. I mean, there is the obvious– I’m upset about our current situation in this country. And part of me almost has this slight guilt that we’ve planned this trip and all this garbage is surfacing– like we are running, though the reality is I’ve been wanting this trip long before these problems worsened (they’ve always existed really). But the other part of me just wants to get out of here faster, sooner. I’m not naive though, I know the problems are everywhere. Whether on this part of the world, or on the opposite side, we have deep rooted hateful and greedy problems and people that need a lesson in compassion. The best quote I’ve read today was, “equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you. It’s not pie.”

It’s not pie.

I’m also emotional because I’m so excited. And so grateful. And I’m so sure that this experience is going to bring so much good into our lives. I’m positive that this is the correct next step in my life path. So sure. It sounds strange, but with my current stomach issues, my sleep has been crazy. And each night as I turn to my side and lay my head on my pillow, I can feel myself in that weird in-between wake and dreams moment– where you’re in a haze of ideas zooming through and you have two options: to press on towards sleep or to try to make sense of all your current half thoughts and visions. Almost lucid, but lacking enough energy to truly lucid dream. I’ve been finding myself there often. And in between the inevitable, sometimes scary visions that come up with my stomach pains, I’m visualizing everything I subconsciously want. It’s right in front of me and it feels so vivid, so real.

At this point, I don’t care if I’m healthy enough, or weigh enough, or strong enough, or anything, I just want to make my dreams real, now. Not when “the timing is perfect” not when I’ve marked off all my check points to my own health and body, but right now.

And Iw ant to do my best to keep this space what it is, even through the changes. I want to document the good– and the inevitable bad  that comes in this next step in my life. I have a lot of posts in drafts– and by that I mean edited photos saved in drafts. I hope to add my thoughts to the moments– either past thoughts or current emotions running through. I plan to also update you guys on whats going on between now and the move. And then of course– the actual drive. My fears, the things that work and don’t work, and everything in-between. Realistically, I’d like to do daily journal on the drive. I don’t know how easy it will be to keep up– as I don’t usually work in the car, but I would like to document everything along the way– for myself and for this space.

But as for now, I’m homeschooling with Marlowe here beside me. We’ll be doing daily work books at home and while we travel, since her actual school won’t start until January. The school year runs January – November in Guatemala. I’m really happy about this– it makes SO MUCH more sense for the kids to be in school through out the rainy summer months and outside and free during the beautiful summer months. I’ve always been so confused to why this isn’t the case here in Florida. But anyway, we’re doing it now, at home before her new school starts. Part of me really wants to continue homeschooling in Guatemala, but the reality is, she will gain SO much more being in school there– a full on immersion into a invaluable second language. We can’t skip that opportunity for her. Okay guys, I’m off. Thank you thank you again. This week I’ll be sharing more pictures from our past trip north, a bit about our 49+ hours road trip itinerary, and probably some food stuff too 🙂

Thanks for being here. Chat soon xoxo.