~Wednesday, January 13, 2021~
Day 213
Another gray, rainy day in Old Town, FL. At this point, with the few sunny days we’ve had here, we don’t even feel like we’re in Florida. So today, instead of sightseeing or being productive, we decided to opt for a day of reading, cross-stitching, and of course writing. But interestingly enough, before all that, we launched into a heavy discussion over breakfast. Topic: where we are, individually, about the timeframe of moving ahead on this amazing journey.
For me, I’ve always had it in my head that we would complete this fabulous trip by early Fall of 2021, so that we’d be in a new home by early September just in time to turn around and celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in either New Zealand, or Northern Italy/Switzerland (yes mom, you’re invited to the Northern Italy portion of the trip 😉🥰, if we go). But for Jeff, the thought of having a home base in 8 months and being stationary is nauseating to him, for lack of a better word, but here’s why…..
At least for now, 7 months in, Jeff’s feelings of owning a home again and all the obligation and responsibility that comes with it, seems unsettling. Getting back to work, even if it’s a fun job, would still trigger another obligation he just can’t swallow right now. The freedom that we have going on at the moment, is something that we’ve wanted and planned for, for some time, and simply, he just doesn’t want it to end. At least for now. Who knows, 6 months from now, he might be ready for a new space and a more permanent change of scenery. And the search is still on for that perfect, take your breath away kind of place to call our next “home”. We very much like a few locations, but nothing has really, truly spoken to us yet. The purpose of this trip was to #1-take some time for ourselves, #2-live more freely, #3-see this amazing country of ours and #4-finding an amazing community for us to plant some new roots and purchase a smaller home that will allow us to live more simply and mentally free; less maintenance, less expense, free up more time, etc. Only time will tell, when we both feel equally ready for the next phase. In the meantime, we’ll just let fate do its thing.