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It’s been a little over four months since we got back home. Fall has turned into winter and the RV…now affectionately called “The Ark”, is sitting in our front yard covered with 12” inches of thawing snow. Our two week trip last fall gave us insights about what we had to do to make this our “home”. It wasn’t long before I had my tools out and I was tearing out our bedroom wall, removing heavy mirrored closet doors, building a desk and shelf space for our computer and crafts and rearranging our washer/dryer to better utilize our existing space. There are other things that we’d like to do, like installing large pull out slider drawers in the storage space under the Ark. I’ve added an additional deep cycle battery to boost our power supply and cleaned the Ark from top to bottom.
Up till this point, the only “toy” that we’ve had for our “toy-hauler” is my Harley. Over Christmas, this changed. We bought an additional two dirt bikes and a dune buggy that will go into the “garage” in back. Needless to say…the kids were ecstatic! It was one of those once in a life-time “I gotta Pony for Christmas”…!!! It was fun to see their surprised and shocked faces.
In addition to working on the Ark, We’ve had to take care of some much needed bathroom repairs like fixing cabinet doors, replacing our tub/shower surround, replacing floor trim, replacing closet doweling, and touch up work. This stuff had to be done before we leased out our primary residence. Most of the interior work on the house has been done except for replacing some floor trim and filling the small picture nail holes. This will get done after we have emptied the house of our belongings. We finalized lease arrangements with our new tenants, who are scheduled to move into the house beginning March first. We’ve also made arrangements with a skilled handy man to take care of any maintenance issues that may come up with our properties during our absence.
My wife has been busy packing and separating those things that will be going into the Ark, from those things that we will be putting into storage. Things are coming together. This in-between state feels somewhat “awkward” right now…it’s like having one foot in the “known” and one foot in the unknown. We are anxious about getting on the road and into warmer climes, but somewhat wistful and sad about leaving the comfort and security of our home…knowing that our lives will be totally different in a very short “Time”. We’re leaving behind our home, friends, memories and all that is familiar. It’s a feeling of being “displaced”, that things will never be the same. It brings back the uncomfortable foreboding feeling that I felt when I went through my divorce and the screen door banged behind me as I left my home, town and friends for the last time…”grief” for what has been and diffuse anxiety about what is yet to come.
So barring the unforeseen…we will be “on the road again”, on or before March 1st. It’s been aloooooooong tiiiiiime comin. The door is opening…it feels "right". Now, it’s “Time” to trust the timing, trust the "flow" and cross thaa threshold...
