Week 1 Recap...different from biz and personal blogs

If you want to read about the ups and downs (and believe me, this first week has been stamped with extreme situations), please check out http://nativerave.blogspot.com/ and http://christyilfrey.blogspot.com/.  On day one we left our house in Corpus Christi in the early morning light to watch the sunrise over the Gulf.  Stunning.  As we left the beach, raindrops began to sprinkle a little.  No worries.  While putting my vehicle into storage, a sprinkle turned into a full-throttle gully-washer.  Undeterred, our family marched northward and emerged from the storm unscathed...and dry.  Let's go!  That night we stayed with friends...a wonderfully generous respite from planning and preparing for this adventure.

Day two, we drove to Plano and stayed with my Dad for three nights.  In his driveway.  Tethered by an extension cord.  We enjoyed quality time with family; I even had a girls' night out!  Probably the last I will have for a while, I guess.  Thanks for the laughs, ladies.  You really helped me let go of the stress of the past several months.

Day five marks the de facto beginning of this journey.  I will stop calling it an adventure, because this is not a trip or a vacation.  It is a total change in lifestyle that challenges our suburban upbringing.  David and I have taken other adventures together, true.  But for most of our life, we have been surrounded by an ethic that promotes (over)consumption and a system of identifying oneself according to a professional title, the location and size of one's home, designer brands of everything from clothing to kitchenware and everything in between.  Imagine my friends' and family members' horror when we announced we were scaling back to live.work.travel as a family in less than 100 square feet!  I know, it's a foreign (and some have said INSANE) concept to most people, especially for the people we have always known and loved.  But, really, it is not that unusual in a global context.  Suburbia is only one lifestyle, it is not THE lifestyle.  I cannot claim to fully understand what I will glean from this experience -- yet -- but I have a few objectives.  One, I hope that by minimizing our footprint I will spend less time managing "stuff" and more time educating and exploring with Sage.  If I do not seize them now, I might miss some of her earliest momentous accomplishments.  Two, I hope by becoming a mobile family and business we are able to reach more clients in more markets to share our messages about sustainable landscaping and living.  Three, I hope to use these blogs to document our experiences, but also to finally plunge into my passion (writing) as a paid professional.  Four, I hope I will use the extra free time to run more, hike more, learn more about raw food, maybe become a raw food coach and an herbalist.  I've become very interested in the various culinary, medicinal and household uses of native and adaptable plant species.  Four, I hope that our journey inspires others to peel away the superficial layers of their life and focus their time and energy on whatever it is that truly makes them happy.  Consumerism is not evil, but too often materialistic pursuits mask an underlying dissatisfaction with one's life.  I have discovered the essence of Me but I do not hoard happiness.  I want you to feel as wonderful and happy as I. 

Deep.  Wonder what revelations week two will bring...


Day One on the beach on Padre Island, Corpus Christi