The moment that changed a lifetime
It all started on a road trip. Isn’t that romantic? One single fleeting thought driving toward a vacation destination had the power to change the life we had built for ourselves. It all sounds so spontaneous and adventurous and sexy. The moment itself didn’t change anything. Not really. But it did change our thinking. Our thinking changed our planning. Our planning changed our goals. And goals change lives.
We were driving to Daytona Beach, Florida with our two kids in the backseat of a Ford Escape. We were packed to the gills with swimwear, flip flops, sunscreen, and boogie boards. We were ready to spend the week at the beach and take in the incredible tourist attractions of NASA , the Space Center, and Cocoa Beach.
John was driving and I happened to see a billboard for Charleston, South Carolina. We had visited there before, and as he drove I was daydreaming of the City Market, Rainbow Row and Fort Sumter. It had rained a bit during that specific vacation. I seem to remember our hotel parking lot flooding due to a passing hurricane. My thoughts wandered to what all we saw, and what all we didn’t see. My inner dialogue sounded something like this: “How can you see all there is in a week’s time…. or two weeks’ time? You can’t. You can’t see it all. You can’t do it all. It would take a year.” That was the moment; the moment that changed it all.
What if…
I contemplated the weight of my thoughts. What if? What if we lived outside the box, broke the norm. What if every year was a new adventure where we lived like a local? I said to John, “You know, we visit these places for vacation, and we never see or do everything we want to do. It would take a year to see it all. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could live in Charleston for a year? You know. Live like a local. Then, the next year, move to Montana? Live there for a year. Then the next year, move to Maine… Just every year, live somewhere new and live like you’re on vacation, live like a local on vacation?” That was the moment his wheels started turning, and I don’t think they stopped turning for the next five years.
That was 2017, our daughter was an incoming Junior in high school, our son was entering eighth grade. There was no way we could do something like that with them both in school. 2017 came and went. 2018, 2019 as well. Our daughter graduated high school and went off to college. Our son entered his freshman year of high school. In January 2020, second semester of his freshman year, we moved from a traditional school system to a homeschool hybrid system. He attended school two days per week, and we oversaw his studies and homework the other three.
The day the world changed
In March of 2020 the Covid-19 Pandemic shut down the schools and everything changed. It was serendipitous, I suppose. We changed from a traditional school setting to a homeschool hybrid setting just three short months before the rest of the world entered full-time remote learning. We had an advantage, it seemed.
For most people, working and remote learning from home was challenging to say the very least. But for us, it provided us the traction we needed to turn a few goals into plans and turn a few plans into actions. We were suddenly doing our work remotely. We were having customer and co-worker meetings online. Our daughter returned home from college and completed her classes online. Our son was distance learning and doing his work wherever he wanted…from the hammock in the backyard, from a hotel lobby, from the basement family room, his bedroom, wherever we happened to be is where we worked, and he learned.
The limitations we previously believed would be so hard to overcome were being solved right before our very eyes. Suddenly, we could easily work from Charleston, South Carolina or Billings, Montana or Bangor, Maine. As long as we had internet, we could do our work from anywhere.
Three years later, our son graduated from high school in May of 2023 and in June we made our first move. It was a testing of the waters, so to speak. He was attending a state college in a small town two hours south of where we lived. There were only two schools in our state that offered his desired program. Because it was a small school there wasn’t campus student housing. Because he didn’t know anyone attending the same school, we didn’t want to rent an apartment for him alone.
Taking first steps
John found an unbelievable resort-like apartment community that fit all our wants and our needs: Pools, hot tubs, clubhouse, reading gardens with hammocks, bocce ball courts, pickle ball courts, shuffleboard courts, dog parks, car wash, pet wash, 6-hole putting greens, corn hole courts, 24-hour gym, tanning salon, hydro-massage salon, and pool bar and grill. It was honestly like living at an all-inclusive resort.
The grounds were meticulously manicured. There were firepits and grilling pavilions across the entire community.
Neighbors gathered in common areas and the complex occasionally hosted donut breakfasts and brought in food trucks during the week days.
There were two swimming pools, putting greens, and pickleball courts.
Remote living
John and I decided to split our time living between our mostly empty four-bedroom home and the 1,300 square foot two-bedroom apartment. This gave our son the part-time freedom of living as a college student and gave us the opportunity to test the waters of living and working remotely. We settled into a two-week rotation. Two weeks at the apartment; two weeks at home. This schedule allowed us to be near our business and to maintain our home. It also allowed us to make much-needed repairs to our 23-year-old house before listing it for sale and embarking on this adventure on a much bigger scale.
We worked during the day and lounged by the pool or hot tub during the afternoon, evenings, and weekends. We went to the gym, played disc golf, and watched the Cessnas land at the neighboring airstrip. It was like living the dream we had imagined, only much better.
Empty nesters, living the dream
Step one was complete. We were seeing all the planning and saving, and goal setting come to life right before our eyes. We were empty nesters, and we were ready to start living our adventure. It all sounds very simple and matter of fact, but there were years of planning and preparation before we could take that first step.
How could we afford to move every 12-18 months? Could we downsize enough to make this work? How much would we want or need to store long term? What items did we need to purchase to make this move feasible for two people in their early 50’s?
We didn’t want to hire movers each time we relocated, so we knew our furniture selection needed to be intentional. Lightweight, portable, packable, and the right scale were all check boxes that needed addressed. Existing furniture we’d accumulated in thirty plus years of marriage needed to be paired down, donated, sold, or stored. We had specific wants to address: sound systems, security systems, bedding, belongings. Some things could stay, others could go. Some were heirlooms we wanted and needed to store long term.
Our adventure took shape
As the pieces to our puzzle began to come together, our adventure began to take shape. It was time. Time to make the first move. Time to live like no one we’d ever known. It was time to forward our mail.
Come join us on our journey
As we take this journey, we hope you’ll come along. We have so much to share with you. We will provide tourist information and local living intel for each place we move. We will have itineraries in case you find yourself traveling through one of these places and want to stop a while for a visit.
Each day is an adventure if you step outside your comfort zone
Each day is an adventure if we step outside our comfort zone.
For us, we aren’t living out of boxes. We’re living outside the box because that’s where the adventure begins.