My New Life

It’s Tuesday evening.  As I look out my bedroom window, I see pine trees, lots of pine cones, and spattering’s of small green shrubbery all around me.  It is a chilly, breezy mid-June day.  Too windy to be sitting outside enjoying our beautiful location.  So, in the RV I sit and write while my husband has decided to join Facebook again (For the 100th time. We’ll see how long it lasts this time). He is showing me all sorts of funny meme’s that I already saw 2 months ago and asking a zillion questions about how to do stuff.  God love him.  Haha!

We just left a luxury RV resort in Southern California. We are now boondocking in the middle of the forest and my heart could not be happier.  But at the same time, I do feel a sense of guilt.

I just said goodbye to a dear friend and witnessed her life end much earlier than it should have.  We both left a life of vocational ministry at the same time, but for 2 totally different reasons.  She was diagnosed with ALS and I was in total ministry burn-out.  We spoke a lot about these new journey’s we were both on and how they could not be more different.  I always felt bad for talking about the future when we knew her future looked nothing like mine.  Even though she was losing her ability to move her legs, arms, hands; she was one of my biggest supporters and cheerleaders.  She spoke about me and my new life adventure to her nurses and other friends who came to visit.  She showed them pictures of our RV and all that we were doing to get ready to live full-time on the road.  What a sweet and selfless friend she was.

So now as I sit here and try to process what has transpired over the last 8 months, I am finally starting to feel a sense of relief and a burden being lifted off my shoulders.  I am feeling a lightness (Not my weight. Definitely gained some pandemic pounds.), but a lightness to my life and soul.  I feel like I can breathe again. I can laugh again. 

My heart is healing from deep wounds.  I know that I need to live my life to the fullest, because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  I am looking forward to living a nomadic lifestyle, where adventures and new found hobbies will be my norm.  Living a life that is not society’s house with a white picket fence way of living.  Seeing and experiencing everything that is different from what I know. My friend would be so proud of the new me that I am becoming.  I intend to try and live each day with joy and gratitude.

I am going to start writing about all these days and adventures.  The good, bad, and ugly.  I hope you follow along with me!