The Adventure Begins

Within a few hours my family will be on our way to Yellowstone. All six of us are going to live in an RV for the whole summer. I know it sounds crazy, but it also seems so right.

I can't think of a better way to spend the summer.

Before we go I want to share some quotes and other things that have influenced our decision to do something this crazy.  The first quote is the "Life Motto" from the  movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

It reads,

To see the world, 

Things dangerous to come to,
To see behind walls,
Draw closer,
To find each other,
And to feel.
That is the purpose of
Life.

My husband and I loved the movie and the quote so much that we printed it out and hung it on our wall.  It summed up how we felt about military life.  Even though my husband is out of the military, we aren't quite ready to give up the nomadic lifestyle.  There are still many dangerous things to come to, many people to find, and many new things to feel.

 The second quote is the lyrics to the One Republic Song, Counting Stars.  This was our family theme song for most of the time my husband was in the Army.  Even though his dreams with the military didn't work out the way we wanted them to, we still love this song.

After my husband got out of the military we moved in with his parents in Utah while we figured out what to do next.  For a while it seemed like we should just take the first good job we found and settle down.  But deep down I knew I wasn't ready for that.  

One night we watched the movie Sing Street on Netflix.  I was enchanted by the whole movie.  But it was the song, "Drive it like you stole it" that stuck with me.  

The line "It's your life you can go anywhere."  Kept repeating in my head.  I knew we couldn't settle down yet. 

My husband decided to go back to school and we started making plans to move to Idaho in the fall.

Around that same time my husband and I went to see the movie La La Land for my birthday. At the end of La La Land I broke down in tears.  I realized that I felt homesick.  Not for Texas or Alabama, but for Adventure.

That's when I started thinking about the possibility of working for Xanterra in Yellowstone during the summer.  I applied for the job almost on a lark. I hadn't really thought through the idea yet.  It came as a surprise when I was offered the job. And even though there were a ton of obstacles, I knew that this was an opportunity of a lifetime.

The song "Fools who dream" from La La Land kept coming back to me. No matter what our lives would be richer if we took this opportunity.


And now we are just a few hours from starting our next adventure. I'm worried and excited.  But mostly I feel ready.

This is what I love.