Five years ago, on April 16, 2016, we walked through the door of the small house we built as part of our relocation to the Charlotte area. Two years ago, on April 16, 2019, we signed on our next house, less than 5 miles down the road from the one we had built but a world away from the stress and tension of that little house. Now, two years later, on April 16, 2021, we signed on our next home, a 2021 Grand Design Momentum 397TH from LazyDays in Tampa, Florida.
I choose to believe there’s something significant about us taking our next step on April 16th, as we have for our last two major life changes. It feels fortuitous somehow. Making the move in 2016 was good for us professionally. Making the move in 2019 was good for us personally. I have no doubt that making the move in 2021 will be extraordinary – personally and professionally.
We have been busy in the four months since our last post at Christmas. Shopping different camper designs, getting price quotes, building to-do lists and supply lists, clarifying financials, researching job options, etc. We have made significant progress in developing a debt burn-down plan and projecting our future budget. We have camping reservations made, and mostly paid for, from January 2022 through March 2022. With the camper order, this dream is becoming a reality.
In addition to Pilgrimage readiness, we’ve been getting Gen ready for college in August, and Madison ready for her wedding in December. Couple college and a wedding with our Pilgrimage, and 2021 is going to be a big year for us.
We have four months left to go. And everything is going to come down to August/September of this year. Remember that river I mentioned early on, how we will drift along for a while, until the river starts to narrow and all of a sudden, we’re rushing along over rocks and rapids in a torrent of activity? I can see the rapids just ahead. The camper is due around mid-August. Gen goes to college in mid-August. We will have to list and sell the house in mid-July in order to sell and receive the proceeds by mid-August/early September. I can start applying to jobs in mid-August in order to have something lined up by the beginning of November. It feels surreal to think that in four-to-five months we won’t be in this house anymore. But I know our decision is built on years of camping experience, at least a year of research, and a solid “why.” Gen will be embarking on her next adventure, as will Madison. I need time and space over the next two years for my comprehensive exams and my dissertation – a feat that is proving impossible with my current job. And Chris and I both need to get back to being present in our lives, particularly me.
