Don’t Be Frightened Of Turning The Page

I’m thinking about intention today – what we meant to do, what we did, and how we pivot and shuck and jive and feint, and how we somehow keep moving forward. We intended to get rid of most of our stuff and to live on the road. We intended to travel slowly. We intended to avoid Interstate America. We intended to be attentive to the pulse and flow of people and places. We did all that. It’s been almost a year, and we are ready to turn the page.

The obvious to-do list includes places we haven’t seen, of course, but that is not our earnest intent. Our earnest intent is to continue doing exactly what we’ve been doing – and as always pivoting and shucking and jiving and feinting – because it’s right for us. One pivot we’ll make is zooming to Chicago again and again to bask in the glow of our new grandson, Tate. We spent the first two weeks of Tate’s life in his house with Natalie and Drew. I’m frankly awed by how natural the two of them are, and how Tate grows right in front of us. Holly and I are so grateful that we’re in a position to adapt to life’s changes. This is a grand journey!

We were in western South Dakota visiting Jeff and Bethany and Jamie when we got word that Tate was on the early train. We zoomed – laboriously and bouncing – over the rickety roads of South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin for the grand event. It was wonderful spending time with them. We got to know Jeff a bit. He’s a super thoughtful person, and a great dad. Jamie is sharp as a tack, and fun to hang out with. The cats – that’s another story.

The big news, of course, is Tate. Though ahead of schedule, he is right on track in taking over Drew and Natalie’s house. Drew and Natalie are naturals at the hardest job in the world. Holly and I were blessed to be present for the first two weeks to watch this garden grow.

We parked Sandy at Phil and Janet’s – Drew’s parents – house north of Chicago. Sandy was a violation of their HOA rules, and caused some discussion. The neighbors – and this always happens when we engage people directly (if only virtually) – showed themselves to be warm and humorous (Shitter’s full!) and eager to help us welcome Tate. We’ll do a real get together with them another time. We count them as new friends.

We’re now camped along the shore of Lake Michigan and will circle back to cuddle Tate a couple more times in the next weeks. It will be hard to drive away. We hope it will be easier to drive back next time, as we plan on changing out our ride. We plan on selling Sandy and building out a Ford Transit – mostly because we can park it in Chicago. So, we’ll have work to do in the next couple months. More pivoting and shucking and jiving and feinting.

We’ve been at this just about a year. It’s astounding to us that we haven’t second guessed this choice one bit. And it’s funny that I’ve now bought my second teacher planning book. For 20 years, my (frustrated) supervisors tried to get me to write plans. It never happened. I was too good at pivoting and shucking and jiving and feinting. Now, I use it every day. Time to turn the page.