Adventure is the Best Teacher
If we were meant to stay in one place forever,
we would have roots instead of feet.
September 5, 2017
Okay.
So…
The past few weeks an idea has been thrown around in our family. An idea to go travel for six months to a year. The first idea was to go all over America in an RV, but now it’s expanding to staying somewhere in South America (probably Peru or Ecuador). *I wrote this before we settled on Central America*
When I first heard of this traveling “plan” I didn’t think much of it, as my parents like to dream and I thought that’s all it was — just a dream. When the idea was still being talked about a week later I was like “Whoa. Hold up, dude. Is this for real?” My mom told me that they were dead serious, but I still wasn’t convinced (and still am not in a way) but it made me think of it as an actual possibility. *I am convinced now though*
My dad (who is basically as far from a planner as you can get) started writing lists for how we can make it work financially, places to go, pros and cons, etc…. He’s going to quit his job that he’s been at for 20 years. Like… this is getting real.
Like…
What?
I’m actually 100% on board with the idea now, but some of the others aren’t. *again, this was a while ago – everyone is on board with it now*
I want to take a little time to write my personal pros and cons, so here goes:
Pros:
•Seeing the world outside of my town.
•Spending time getting to really know my dad.
•Relearning how to get along with my siblings.
•Getting a break from all the teenage drama.
•Learning more about myself and God through this experience.
•Learning to live on less money.
•Possibly starting our own business.
•Learning to be more creative.
•Having interesting things to write about.
•Learning.
•And learning.
•And more learning.
Cons:
•Leaving my friends.
•Having no way to get a break from my family.
•Leaving extended family.
•Leaving our Church.
•Missing a lot of things that I have been looking forward to in this upcoming year.
•Getting homesick.
•Living on less money.
Leaving my friends is probably the hardest thing on the cons list for me. It’s not even necessarily the leaving them that’s hard – it’s leaving them behind that’s hard. Also, it’s going to be really hard to tell a few of them, because I don’t think they’ll take it well. I don’t want to break their hearts! I’m trying to figure out how to tell them in the kindest way possible and it’s really hard. (I’ll probably say more on this in another post)
The best thing on my pros list…
LEARNING
I love to learn and discover.
New experiences.
New people.
New feelings.
I feel like this trip is going to be the best thing I have ever done in my life. The wealth of knowledge I will gain is the highlight of all this. Of course I’m also scared of all this discovery. What will I discover about the meaning of life? About God? But most of all — What will I discover about myself…?
The whole thing excites and scares me. But I feel I am ready to welcome it.
I’m so excited for y’all! We’ll miss you all terribly, but we know this is going to be a wonderful experience for all of you. We’re continuing to pray for your preparation and will cover you guys as you travel! Thanks for sharing! ❤