We recently took Baby Grace on a camping trip to Red Top Mountain State Park. We scored an excellent tent only site right by the water. Baby Grace loved sitting on the side of the hill watching the boats speed by, cheering and clapping for the water skiers, and just chattering away about everything she saw. HB snapped this picture of us. I think she and I sat on that hill for an hour just watching and talking. The whole trip was just beautiful like that.
When we got back home on Sunday HB could hardly wait to book our next camping trip. Camping suits us so well. The simplicity of it is what draws me the most. We have everything we need right there. And we are free from everything we don’t need – no tv, no internet, barely any cell phone service. Every moment is spent outside. And it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s hot or rainy. Just being outside awakens my soul and helps me feel at rest. And rest we did. At home the pace of life is hectic. We have jobs and church and community meetings and chores and social activities and training and obligations and and and….. But when we camp, we just have to sit on the side of the hill and watch the boats go by.
Tha camping trip got us talking even more seriously about what we need to do to turn our dreams into reality. We want HB to retire before Baby Grace is old enough to start school. That will mean some big financial changes for our family. I will become the bread winner (not just the bread baker) for our family. But I will not spend my life and most of my waking hours at a job I do not love. So I have to create a career for myself that I am passionate about and that can sustain us. We will have to learn to live more simply and to find ways of living that are more sustainable both financially and environmentally. I know there will be sacrifices along the way, things we will have to do without, but I also know that creating this life we dream will be rich and rewarding.
