Knowing when to let it all go… What does that really mean? Well, to me it means a lot. We always come back to our former home here in College Station Texas. Why? Because it was our former home and we have many great memories of raising our family here.
What makes home,,, a home? To me it is a place that makes me feel so totally relaxed that there is no other place I want to be. A place of comfort, peace and serenity. There was a time that home for me was College Station Texas… but not any more. We have now been on the road for a little more than 6 years and our former home is just that… former.
We have lots of former friends in our hometown who have fallen by the wayside while others have forged stronger friendships with us. We so enjoy coming back home to reconnect now that all our kids are grown and life is not so busy as to get in the way. The month-long stay seems to fly by because of all the social visits we try to fit in. Sometimes as occurred yesterday, an old friend traveled from Houston to drop by for a couple of hours before attending an Aggie baseball game. What an unexpected treat that was!
How fabulous in this huge world we have the opportunity to meet people who become so special along the path of our lives on earth. For Sharon and I who grew up in military families, we did not have have the opportunity to make many lifelong friendships. I think as a result we are so grateful for the journey we are on as it has filled that void for us! We have met so many people on the road over the last six years whom we cherish as new friends. We are ever thankful knowing we would never have had this chance to know them had we not decided upon this nomadic lifestyle. Although our friends made on the road now far outnumber the friends here in our former home, there are still those here in College Station we consider dear friends for life…
What made me contemplate this is thinking of those who are newly retired and planning to hit the road. Interestingly the same will probably occur for them in that some friendships will fade while others will rise up to replace those who were once very close. Looking at my partner in crime, the person who sits next to me in the motorhome I realize there sits my best friend. Because of her willingness to try this adventure way out of her comfort zone we have become closer than ever before in our marriage. I have a feeling that is true for so many of our comrades on the road and it will become so for the newbies as well.
Every year we pass through our old home town it has become easier to let it go. This town is special to us but it is not home anymore. We have let that go. Our new “home” is our 420 square feet home on wheels where we experience that joy, peace and serenity everyday we live in it. I think that is exactly why we haven’t settled anywhere nor seriously looked for a place to settle yet. We just love this and I am thinking now that we will probably let go of the idea we need to know where we will settle. We will just cross that bridge when we come to it and in the meantime, just enjoy the ride!
NOTE: We are still in College Station until May 7th. Our flooring project is on hold as our tiles are on back order. The photos in today’s blog are of our family who spent the past weekend with us and of some local friends at a gathering…
Now that says it all on a nutshell, What we have been going through in our now 12th year fulltming. The old friends cannot let go of their "stuff" and cannot relate to this amazing lifestyle we enjoy, they grow away.
ReplyDeleteLike you said we have made so many good friends on the road, we just need to enjoy this good life while we can, and meet so many amazing people
Awwwww. So sweet, John.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Seeing old friends and making new ones is the greatest thing about our RV lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't change this life unless we have to. We agree.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more. Our "former" home is Charlottesville, also a University town and we still have friends and doctors and mechanics we know and trust so we return nearly every year, sometimes twice, once in the spring and once in the fall. But our life on the road is more restricted than we had ever thought it would be. But we still wouldn't trade it.
ReplyDeleteI will add my agreement. We have our days, but we are certainly better together than ever. 4.5 years FT.
ReplyDeleteWe love our hometown of Ashland, Oregon and still have a home and an amazing community of friends here. We know we'll return to Ashland when we stop full timing because we can't imagine any place better suited for us. But for now, we're incredibly grateful that we embarked on our full time traveling journey four years ago. It's a great life, even with the bumps in the road we've encountered!
ReplyDeleteWell said and totally agree. It'll be interesting to see what happens when we go back to VT in 2019 after being gone for 4 years. With FB we do keep up with some of our friends there but I know it won't "feel" like home. After almost 4 years I wouldn't trade my lifestyle with my best friend unless we absolutely had to.
ReplyDeleteWe're back in our hometown now -- but we don't miss the old house. Our neighbourhood changed during the 15 years we lived there and raised our family. It still looks nice, but everyone's life became so so much busier. Weekend cul-de-sac barbeque socials faded into quick "Hi. Hello." waves over the fence as people rushed to and from their next obligation.
ReplyDeleteRV travellers still have some of that precious 'luxury' -- time. Time to wander over and see who the new neighbours are at the campground and where they're from. Time to sit around a campfire and strum a ukelele and sing old songs. Time to just watch the sunset or the raindrops on the winshield.
Some of our strongest friendships have been forged 'on the road'. But I'm also glad we can come back to our hometown and time our visits with old friends so they fit into the brief moments of free time they have in their busy lives.