This post is going up on Thanksgiving. We will celebrate in our little camper with my brother Brian, and be grateful for our rolling homes, food on the table, and families and friends who love us enough to let us live our nomadic life.
I fully intended to get the last post up within a reasonable time of writing it, but other priorities slipped in. My brother, Brian, showed up here to work with us at Amazon. He is hitting the road for a year in his van after selling his condo and leaving Baltimore. We were spending time with him, enjoying family time and introducing him to friends and the full-timing life, when we received word that my 91 year-old father was on Hospice care back in Maryland. He passed away on November 3rd. Brian had only been working here a week, but the three of us needed to get back to Maryland. Amazon granted us three days of bereavement leave and we took penalty points for missing our fourth work day. After working our four-day shift, we all piled into our Toyota Yaris with our luggage and drove the 11 hour trip back to Maryland.
There was no question that we would go back home. Thankfully we could do it without giving up our jobs or our campsites, so we were able to be there to support our 87-year-old mother and help our other brother, Steve, who was left to help organize the visitation, burial, and memorial service. Our week was filled with family and friends, and the gift of seeing our daughter, son-in-law and our precious grand-daughter who we had not expected to see again until Christmas.
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| Keeping Grandpa busy |
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| High-Five! |
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| Grandma at the receiving end of the big slide. |
Our four-year nomadic anniversary was on November 12th, the same day as my Dad's memorial service. The last three years, we toasted the day and discussed the future. This time, the significance of the day barely crossed our minds. For the first time since we started this journey I have begun to feel the need to settle. Coping with everything at once in a state of Amazon fatigue, I longed for my old recliner to sit in front of our woodstove wrapped in a Mrs. Rosemeyer afghan. I am tired of supermarket veggies and miss plucking our own homegrown ones from the earth. I don't do well as a nomad sitting too long in one place and this has been a year of sitting. Not the reason I longed for this life to begin with.
Our three days back have been a time of planning for next year, while we are still adjusting to the changes this year has brought. Greg has been plowing through health insurance and car and RV insurance, navigating the changing insurance marketplace on-line. Being fulltimers, but Florida residents, creates complications, and questions about coverage. Trying to make sure that we have the insurance coverage we need no matter where we travel, gets complicated.
I am also beginning to come to terms with the legacy my father left me as our nation moves forward after a contentious election. When I eulogized him at his service I realized that the most important lesson he taught me was of the power of the individual to create change. His life was a testament to public service in education and non-profits and his vision and actions changed thousands of people's lives for the better. If he were still alive, he would be encouraging me to work for change, and not let depression and a feeling of powerlessness get the better of me. My own theological studies taught me that “Without a vision, the people perish”. My father was a visionary, one who could see the needs, envision a solution and inspire others to own that vision with him and work to see it to fruition. His blood runs through my veins. His voice and eloquence gave rise to my own ability to speak and empower.
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| Dad touring New Zealand |
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