family

Ahh, winter sickness. After more than a week straight of quarantine with Josie, we’re back into the world once again! She’s back to daycare this week and I’m keeping myself busy with job seeking and to-do lists. In fact, this morning I woke up to so many things to do today, I had to write everything down so my head didn’t literally explode. A free day! Must. Do. EVERYTHING.

But you know what, after I dropped her off at school I went for an impromptu hike, which was NOT on my list. The dog was in the backseat really needing to do her business, so I drove to a nearby trail. Clad in my pajamas and Bean boots, and it being a whopping 17 degrees out, we hiked almost 2 miles through the almost woods, as most of the trail paralleled I-95, Maine’s only major highway. Along with the cacophony of morning commuter traffic and semi-trailers, the dog and I crunched through the snow and ice, feeling the sun through the trees and following deer tracks. It was lovely.

With the idea of our cross-country trip taking shape, I have been inundating my mind with overwhelming thoughts of the future, jobs, careers, school, where to live, what do I want in life, even what’s the PURPOSE of life… It’s crazy and exhausting. Instead of letting thoughts come and go, it’s like they take up permanent residence in my mind instead of a short little vacation. Like building a frickin’ brick building instead of a week in a furnished cottage. But in the woods, hiking at a brisk pace (brr, chilly!), the thoughts are still there but not quite so loud. A friend of mine recently shared her experience of going to church and the positivity she felt from that, and I realized that maybe where I get my positivity from is the outdoors – the woods (even almost woods), the mountains, the ocean!

Just another reason to take a leap of faith and embark on our family’s cross-country adventure. I see us hiking (probably at a toddler’s pace) in beautiful forests, in the desert, camping under the stars, Beasley running free of a leash, putting her hound nose to work. I see Tyler shooting video and myself being inspired to write! Take photographs! Be silly with our kid! Really sharing the things we love with her. Having some real family adventure time!

In the meantime, I’m encouraged to take a pragmatic approach to life: working towards a goal, one step at a time. So, I shall continue my yoga practice with Yoga With Adriene (try it, she’s really good!), hike with dog in the winter, with child come springtime, and keep the overwhelming thoughts at bay. After all, to quote Charlie Brown, “Life is like an ice cream cone. You have to learn to lick it!”

There’s a change of scenery around here: my little girl, after spending nearly every day together for the past two years, is starting daycare this week. So at the moment I have 2 hours to myself, which means I can sit and write this blog with only the dog for company and the dishwasher for noise. It feels strange to say the least. But good. I think about writing every day, as this blog is also a change for me. I have always written privately in a journal but now we’re going public, people!

The big reason behind this blog is to document a huge change we’re planning for our little family – we’re packing up the Forester this spring and heading out into the big wide world! (Or at least the big wide country of America!) The seed of this idea was planted what seems like a long time ago, but now that seed is sprouting and consuming our thoughts on a daily basis. Trying to plan for such an ambitious endeavor has been scary and stressful, but exciting.

The PLAN: a 3-month long road trip of the National Parks, integrated with this blog and a mini-web series of travels with a toddler.

Just why do we want to do this? I’ve been trying to be nonchalant about the why part, as in why can’t we just do it because we want to? Although well yes, that is a reason, there is more to it than that. We want to be inspired – me, to write a children’s book of the Parks, and Tyler to create a documentary of our travels. We want our child to be in nature, exploring new things every day, sleeping under the stars. We want our dog to have excitement too!

But before we pack up and go, there’s prep work to be done. This is where I’m glad my significant other is a sane, logical person. I’m the type of person that once the idea is in my mind, I just want to do it now! But Tyler is more organized and thinks ahead, particularly since we do have a young child and dog to think about here too.

There’s so much to think about: where to go, when to leave, which vehicle to use, what kind of shelter do we use, how to finance such a trip, should we take the dog (we were so discouraged to find that most National Parks don’t allow dogs on the trails. Boo!). Meanwhile I’m thinking about ways to entertain a 2-year-old in the car and reading family travel blogs every day. It seems every day we think of something new, which is great brainstorming but mentally taxing.

But all in all, Wonder Drive is something we truly want to do, and if there’s a will, there’s a way. Things may not be falling into place at the moment, but I’m convinced the more real we make it, the more they will.

“After making an extreme effort, after pulling out all the stops, one is still unable to score Tibetan peach pie, take it as a signal to relax, grin, pick up a fork, and go for a slice of the apple.”

– Tom Robbins, Tibetan Peach Pie