Hellobee

My last post, back in May 2020, was called, “Vacation Turned Temporary Home” and it was. We went to North Carolina on vacation and then lived there for several months instead of visiting for a few weeks, because the pandemic was hitting Michigan particularly hard and we really liked it there. So we stayed. We both work remotely (and mine is very project-based so I was able to dial it way back). A lot has happened in the last year and a half as I’m sure it has for everyone.

We returned to Michigan in December of 2020 to pod off with Mr. Gumdrop’s family over the holidays and into the spring. I got the vaccine early because of my pre-existing health conditions and the potential for neurological effects of covid, so I was able to breathe a big sigh of relief. Spring was lovely and summer even nicer in Michigan so we started socializing more and doing lots of outdoor hangouts.

But most of the last months of our summer were spent downsizing our life into an RV – yep! I’m finally getting to live my tiny dream again.

This time, the dream is our own, but it’s also our whole life in there now, besides a few bins of memories and warm clothes at my in-laws’ house in Michigan. And the RV and truck are our own, which have been more work than when we just moved into a parked Avion trailer belonging to someone else. Getting down here (only a week and a half ago!) has been quite the ordeal. The truck wasn’t up for the task. Even though it should have been strong enough, it wasn’t up for the mountains of North Carolina. We’re also less resilient than we were once upon a time before I slipped from consciousness and had to rebuild myself  up from the brink of death.

After already tiring the truck out on the Blue Ridge Mountains, we took a wrong turn and bumped the fence of my son’s preschool (right around the corner) trying to get to our final destination. After sleeping on our friend’s floor for two nights, we finally hired a bobcat to put our home into place at the top of a hill.

So, we have a home, our home has a home, and we are finally living in it.

I am so tired but cautiously excited. We sold our home in Michigan to friends of ours who let us stay past the closing date to make the transition easier, but it also definitely made it more melancholy. We had already signed the closing papers, but we were still living in a sweet little city spot that was safe and familiar and we’d called home for the last 2.5 years. There is discomfort in the unknown, for certain, and that’s where we’re at now. But there’s also growth, and beauty too, when we’re living more at our edge vs. always in our comfort zone.

Whenever we get overwhelmed, I try really hard to remember that we chose this and had the privilege to choose it. There are parts of it that already do fulfill what I hoped it would, like living small and close to the earth… and the outdoors as my kids’ playground. And the beauty of this move, and of what makes it so possible is that I had a final angiogram at the Mayo Clinic this summer. Full update on that to follow!