TVC - Day 39 - Content....as in.....I'm very happy

The look of contentment (courtesy Lynda Perkins)

As we near the end of our 40th month of our vagabonding I have to take time to reflect......flect is from the Latin meaning to bend, flex, turn back......so I am 'turning back', or reflecting, once again to see what was and what is....

What was.......back in our 'workaday' lives I saw Elaine for an hour, or so, in the mornings, sometimes less, before she headed off to her sales and marketing job, and then I would see her again in the evening when I got home around 6 pm for a few hours before we went to bed and started the whole 'hamster wheel' thing all over again the next morning.  Between my main vocation as a Property and Casualty Insurance Broker and my avocation as a professional soccer referee I pretty much worked 7 days a week the last 7, or 8 years before retirement.  In my quiet moments I yearned for the time when I could get off that 'hamster wheel' and spend much more time with my Lovely Elaine.  All through those years of raising 5 children and working Elaine and I never lost contact with one another, although at times the connection became somewhat tenuous.....when we could squeeze the time out of our busy schedules we would sit outside by the outdoor fireplace in the early evening talking about what our lives would look like after the 'workaday' part of our lives was finished.  We both agreed that we wanted to travel for a few years around the USA in a motorhome, but how would it be to spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with each other after 40+ years of not doing that?  Would we be able to coexist in a space 1/10th the size of our sticks and bricks home month after month, year after year?....actually, Elaine was more concerned about the hour after hour, day after day......in order to build a bridge from our sticks and bricks lives to the desired nomadic life I suggested we lease out our home for the 12 months before we hit the road, move into our Newell and live at a local county park called Rancho Jurupa Regional Park (Riverside, CA) until she retired.....it was about 13 miles from our sticks and bricks.  She readily agreed, and within 30 days we had done just that.  By the end of just a few months TLE had agreed she could, indeed, live with me in 200 square feet, so at the end of the 12 months we extended the lease on our home for another 12 months and hit the road with big smiles on our faces.

What is.......I won't go into a long drawn out explanation of how we got to 'what is'.......everyone's journey to 'what is' is different..........I will just simply say after almost 52 months on living in the Newell together, and almost 40 months of changing our view whenever we fancy we are content......we are happy.....neither of us wishes we were doing something else.....neither of us has any desire to return to a 'sticks and bricks' life.....there is no thought of doing anything different than we are doing now.  As I reflect back on what was I can hardly recognize that person that looks just like me running on that 'hamster wheel' 7 days a week....it seems like it must have been someone else's life.

So, what was day 39 like at TVC?  Frankly, a lot like the last 10 days......checking sites twice, deep cleaning the tent sites in section 'E' and just plain enjoying the delightful SLT weather.....mid 80's, clear skies and no chance of precipitation.

Wednesday is our 'Friday', so after work we walked over to Lake Tahoe Pizza for dinner with our remaining Newell Guru friends.....Tom and Darlene, and Richard and Rhonda....TLE and I ordered the Jackpot Pizza with anchovies once again, and drank a couple of Icky IPA's.  It was a good day to be us.........

Thanks for stopping by!