Appreciation For All We Have

I write this quickly to make sure to capture our past two weeks since we arrived back in the states.  We enjoyed our transition back to our little home on wheels.  After living in hotels and other people's homes for three months it felt good to be in familiar surroundings. We also enjoyed a return to nature and our flexibility to let the kids roam the Miami Everglades RV park while Erica and I spent three days cleaning the house and moving things around.  We have collected quite a few treasures and have run out of room to store it all. We stopped at Biscayne National Park on our way out of the Everglades to take in beauty. 

We made our way North with plans to go back to San Diego via the midwest. We planned four days to get to Nashville but were ready to be there asap and decided to do it in two. The kids did great on our eight and ten hour days in the RV.  We really needed a car and because buying a used one would require us to test drive it, it only made sense to get to our friends house near Nashville as soon as possible. This way we would have flexibility with childcare and a vehicle other than the RV. 

We planned five days in Nashville to help our friends prepare their home for selling it. Because we arrived early, we were able to spend seven full days working on odd jobs and letting the kids play together.  Erica and I got out for a date night in Downtown Nashville and we also spent an evening out with the kids at the movies to see Ugly Dolls. Outside of purchasing a new car on our first day there we spent the remaining time working. It felt good to feel the stress and accomplishment of a hard days work.  It also felt hard on the body too! I am still feeling it four days after leaving. I realize now that I am ready to begin work though. There is much to appreciate about our last eleven months and one of the most important lessons learned is that work and our ability to be productive is a gift that we will hopefully never wish away again with dreams of retiring young. We just need to focus now on putting ourselves out into the role of job candidate.  We are officially on the market.  There, I said it.

Peace and Love