Whim...Doing something on a whim tends to imply a certain 'fly by the seat of your pants', devil may care, or cavalier attitude. Most great adventures may look that way from the outside or when the story is told after the fact. Successful adventures are usually planned out in advance and have some 'behind the scenes' work taking place of which the general public is unaware. I discovered, somewhat to my surprise tonight, that I am offended to hear our adventure described as taking place on a whim... Surprised because I have always been a somewhat spontaneous individual having once driven into a war torn area exactly on a whim, though that was many, many years ago. Perhaps I should not take it negatively, after all, if it appears to be no more then a whim, we must be making it look easy. I have been considering writing about our journey to share it's ups and downs and even it's squiggly lines, with you. Yes, we'll include the squiggly lines because if you went everywhere in a straight line, following 'the plan' perfectly, it would make for an awfully boring story.
I guess I will begin with where we are now. My family of five and our yellow Lab, affectionately referred to as 'the Bear', are all living in a 26' trailer on the side of a mountain in Idaho. We have spent the last two weeks preparing for a new school year to begin at our little campsite in between hikes, fishing trips, and my husband’s job interviews (we homeschool). Before June 24th of this year neither my husband (who I will call the Mountain Man), nor I, had ever set foot in Idaho. Over the course of the previous year we had systematically reduced our personal belongings to what would fit in a moving truck/storage room, used a spread sheet to help ourselves pick the state that seemed like the best fit for our family, paid off all of our short term debt and sold our home of the previous eight years. You see, we decided to change our lives. From the Eastern Shore of Maryland with blue crabs and beaches to wilderness areas scattered with mountain streams and huckleberries, the day after Father’s Day we drove west.
Isn't it beautiful?
We had been talking about moving for years. As beautiful as Maryland is, it has not felt like a good fit for our family for a long time now. Two years ago we took a trip to a family reunion in Wyoming and were able to show our children the area where my father's people had homesteaded generations ago. Driving into Wyoming, Mountain Man said if we ever drove that far west again we would not turn the truck around. I think from that point on we were collecting information and the wheels were turning. In September we learned that the job that had supported us for nearly ten years would be over in the Summer. Our opportunity had arrived.
What we left behind and the lovely people who traveled with us as we headed out.
As little as I like labels I will use a few to complete our introduction post. You can decide whether or not to stick around and get to really know us beyond what the labels may or may not tell you. I am Tia. I am a home schooling, healthy life style pursuing, crafty, child of God. Mountain man calls me a Conservative Catholic Hippie. He and I have been together eighteen years. We have done a lot of our growing up together, you might say. He is an outdoorsman, a hunter since he was young, an avid fly fisherman, and an Environmental Engineer by training. He recently told me that it is curiosity about what he will find around the next bend that keeps him going further and further, whether he is fishing or hiking. The oldest child in our family is thirteen year old, Cat. She is an artist and musician who would like to be further out in the wilderness. When she was younger I would go to round her back up for school only to find her learning something like the Greek Alphabet on her own. The middle child is eleven year old, Sandman. He is a mix between the ever joking class clown, the scientist with ruffled hair as he writes in his book of ideas, and the sweet, generous brother everyone should have. The youngest for now, is Adventurer.... Reminding me every day of the many different ways there are to see things and reminding us all just how much fun it is to learn new things, she makes it clear that she is not a baby just because she is young. Happy to help and insistent on having work of her own, she definitely pulls her weight. I am grateful every day to have the privilege of being the wife and mother here. I have had a variety of jobs in my life but the joy of helping to guide this clan is by far the best.
The kids... With me...
The wolves are howling in the distance reminding me of a recent hike cut short by a close encounter with a pack, but it is getting very cold so I will say good night for now and save that story for another time, perhaps. Be kind to each other.
