Well, we have decided to seriously look into our options for "living our dream". We had planned to wait until Jay retires from his civilian position with the USAF, he is a Historian for a military wing, it's the same job he had as an active duty member for 23 years, he loves it and would be happy to continue doing it for another 15 years, he would then retire with two Government retirement checks a month. But as often happens, plans don't always go how you want them too, as they say "you make plans and God laughs"
Our world was shattered just 23 short days ago, our youngest Son Matthew passed away in his dorm room in college, he had suffered with Juvenile Diabetes since he was 7 yrs old, he died from Keto Acidosis, which is a complication of Diabetes. He was just 19 yrs old on October 1st this year. His dream was to be a Paleontologist and had been since he was about 5 yrs old, he was crazy about Dinosaurs and imagined digging up fossils and hopefully making new discoveries, He was academically very smart, he was applying to the deans list in college and was definitely headed for a bright future. He had a great sense of humor and that is what came out most in the comments on his memorial page, he made us very proud and we miss him every minute. He thought his diabetes and his red hair made him 'special', but to his family he was just "our Matthew".
We have another Son, Nathan, he is 23 now and is serving in the US Navy, stationed in Hawaii. He is married to a lovely girl Becky, she is very supportive of his career and makes him very happy. We are so proud of Nathan, he has a great work ethic and has a healthy respect for anyone in a position of authority, we have been so blessed to have had such great kids. We miss him a lot, but hopefuly he will be moving back to mainland US in just over a year.
So, now I have shared just a little about our family, you can understand why we are changing our plans, we, more than most now know that you just don't have any guarantees in life, we don't know that if Jay works another 15 yrs fulltime, that either of us will be healthy enough to enjoy a life living in an RV full time? God forbid, one of us may not even be here to enjoy it. That is why we decided to call our new plans "no regrets", we don't want to look back in 15 yrs and say, we should have done this, or why didn't we do that? Most people we have shared our idea with think it's a great idea and we should just do it! A couple have had a few reservations, especially as it is still so soon after losing Matthew, they think we should take some time to grieve and then make the decision. They may be right, it could all turn out to be a big mess, but we feel we have to at least try this.
There is another major hurdle to get through before we can make our final decision and start the process of purchasing our RV and selling all our 'stuff', Jay is leaving on Jan 02 2012 to go to Afghanistan on a deployment with his job! Cazy huh? and yes, he could have easily got out of it, under the circumstances. But we made the decision together that he would still go. Originally the deployment was going to help us pay down our bills, at least the credit card bills and also pay for a renewal of our vows in July next year, we had almost finished the planning for that, we were going to go to his Parents in CA and do the renewal there, Nathan and Matthew were going to walk Mom down the aisle and hand me over to Dad. It would have been a very special day, but there is no way we can do it without "our Matthew", so we have put that on hold indefinitely. Now, we are thinking that we can use Jay's extra pay to pay off pretty much all our bills, we also have a house in IL that we are hoping to sell (anyone need a 4/3 2060 sq ft home in IL? lol) Then we will have no commitments and no ties to any property. If we can get to a point where we can afford to make this dream happen, Jay is going to resign his job and we are 'outta here'!
Jay would not go on the deployment unless he was sure that I could be with friends/family the whole time he is away (4 months) So I have pland to go stay with some of our best friends in Canada for a couple of months and then go home to the UK to stay with my Sisters family and visit friends there, until the end of April. Jay should be home during the first week of May and that is when we will be able to make the final decision....We are both determined to do our very best to "live our dream, with no regrets"
I will be updating this blog as often as I can, I love to write and this will hopefuly be helpful to others who are thinking of doing the same thing, now or in the future. We will be honest and upfront about all our research into purchasing and living in an RV, all the good and bad that happens during this process. check back often to follow our story and maybe comment on our blog or feel free to ask questions
Thank you!
