Well, I read that last blog and thought "I hope they don't think the Benedictines are a hedonistic group". Of course it remains to discern whether what we desire is virtuous or greedy, whether it comes from God or not. It's not like everything goes.
So, that said, I realize that I am left to discern which of my two desires best serves life, and creation, and the creator. I do love the farm. Sometimes I look around and think that my heart is here on this place, connected to this land, rooted in this ground. I found a tape that I made 17 years ago and on it I talked about all of my dreams for the farm. All the stuff I was going to do with it and how it was going to be this place where people could come to find peace, and discern the direction of their lives, or just rest. None of that happened. I seem to always be full of good ideas.
I have to say that most of the feedback I'm getting points me in the leaving direction. A lot of envy out there! I keep hearing, I wish I could do that or I wish I had the courage to do that. One woman wanted to send her husband with me but I said a definite no to that one. I pulled a medicine card yesterday. It was the Wolf. It says "Find new paths and options. Break through. Be a role model. Share your inner knowing."
I am thinking a lot about how to make this trip meaningful if I take it. There was a wonderful series on PBS 2 weeks ago about the National Parks and it was a very good history and of course highlighted the major, better known parks. But there are 136 National Parks and 78 National Monuments. I am thinking about highlighting the lesser known parks. If you include National historic areas, preserves, scenic areas, byways, etc, there are 477. So there are a lot of choices.
I have started making lists of equipment I would need ifI go or if I stay. I'm not as young as I used to be (darn!) and if I stay and try to do something meaningful here I will need some equipment. I am no longer strong enough to keep doing it all by hand. Not to mention that all of my garden tools were here when I bought the place 22 years ago and the shovels are so dull they wouldn't cut butter. All my hoses need to be replaced. I could really use a small lawn tractor (hauling rocks and firewood in a wheelbarrow just isn't cutting it). That's the short list. When I feel like I'm close to having it all down I'll tack it on the end of another blog.
If I go, the longer list is what I have to get rid of. I actually have most of the equipment I need to live in a truck. Doesn't take much, really.
I am still cleaning the house and the "get rid of it" pile is very small. Downsizing so far is not going so well. I am putting off some of it until Thanksgiving. Both Jeneva and Joey will be here and I want to go throught some stuff then so if they want any of it they can take it before it goes into the yard sale pile.
That's about it for tinight. Love hearing from you.
Peace
Lyn
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Responses and retreats
Dear friends
Thank you for the comments. Keep them coming. Here are some thoughts I have around your comments.
I truly understand what is being said about Angela. She has a harder time than most dealing with change and being a child who was not raised by her parents and who has faced the "loss" of many people in her life, significant adults who moved on, the farm and I have been her only stability. I have certainly been told a number of times that I should simply shove her out the door and tell her to be a grown up and get a life. But she is only 18 and just out of high school. My concern is that at 18, with the unreliability of roommates and the current economy, if she goes out and signs a lease with her minimum wage job that typically affords her less than 40 hours a week she will be an early candidate for a bad credit record, and I really don't want to see her go down that road.
That said, she is planning on starting college and will be eligible for the maximum in financial aid. That along with some that I would budget out of the sale of the house could set her up in her first apartment with several months paid. I think that is the best I can offer.
I have made some inquiries into some of the legal/financial aspects but I am sure there are others that I have not thought about. I have a friend who will let me use his address as a permanent address and I have a great relationship with my credit union and would certainly keep them up to date. I do need to in any case rewrite my will and my end of life/extreme measures document. That I should do anyway. I don't have any stocks or IRA's or anything like that (which I know is making Alison wince) and there is something to be said for having nothing to lose.
It has crossed my mind a few times to lease the farm for a year or two until I see how it goes or to do a lease option if it comes to that with an agreement that after a specified time I could opt to take it back or the other party could buy it if I don't want if back with the rent paid so far a down payment. In fact that is how I was able to buy the farm in the first place. But again, that leaves me with the current mortgage to pay while traveling and that limits the money I have to travel on.
I am going to look into the cost of some local storage units as I will undoubtedly want to keep some things. I won't travel forever and it would be nice to have a few things to move into a new place with. But the smaller the unit the better. Anyone want an antique piano? My tuner says it's the best piano of all the ones he tunes.
The second part of today's blog is going to be about the effect of the past weekend on my thoughts.
I went to my Monastery (yes I think of it as mine), the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood. I am an Oblate member of that community and we had an Oblate retreat this past weekend with Norvene Vest as our leader. She is a theologian and author who has wrtitten several books on St. Benedict and living the Rule of St. Benedict in modern times, which is the goal of the Oblates. Our topic for the weekend was "Desiring Life: The Benedictine Habit of Wisdom" I will give you a few of the highlights of this retreat and then tell you the thoughts and feelings they brought up in me.
One of the first things she said was that the Benedictine life is meant to be the "fulfillment of the soul's desire". She said that God plants desire in us for a purpose and quotes the psalm which says "God's will is my delight". So much for those whose theology is centered on the idea that if it's fun or makes you happy it's a sin. Anyway!
What interferes with our fulfilling our desire? The state of the world. materialism, when what we own becomes our identity, or when we fragment our desire, so that there is no integration.
We are conditioned to try to deny or sublimate our desires. Addicition is often the result of us shutting ourselves off from God's desire for us. God wants our joy.
The things, adventures, etc. that we desire in this world are rooted in our desire for God (my words - and God is in everything that is, so our desire for the experiences of this world is desire to find God). Desire carries us beyond self-control and self management, beyond what we already see and know. It is not a thirst for that which satisfies us but for that which enlarges our capacity to be satisfied.
Our delight and God's will are the same thing.
Wisdom comes from deep discernment and accumulated learning. Each of the Wisdom books of the Bible presents wisdom in a different light. Proverbs presents wisdom as what the wise do vs. what the foolish do. Job addresses the questions: why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God in the world? It allows us to ask important questions even when no clear answers or solutions emerge. The dark night of the soul is not suffering itself, but happens when the God I knew who was comfortable and known is gone and we are invited to know God for God's self. Ecclesiastes questions the notion of salvation history and asks if it is possible to live well
Wisdom invites us to the place where we are not in control (Scary, huh?)
So where does that take us? To our habits of thought. Augustus says there are 3 steps to thought. First, we become aware and decide will I or won't I pay attention to the thought. Second we may consent to the impulse, and third is intention, we take pleasure in the thought. It becomes a habit. At each stage we have a choice At each stage the thought becomes more embedded and more difficult to cast off. So we are called to examine what our most frequent thoughts are about. So by directing them, our thoughts can become virtues rather than habits. Virtue defined as seeing something desirable but out of reach and being willing to risk trying to reach that goal. Risking to follow our true desire. A gift of grace.
Using themes from the Gospels she asked us to answer these questions, which were posed to the disciples by Jesus. From John 1:38 "What are you looking for?" and from Mark 10:36 "What is it you want from me.?" Here were my answers. I am lookng for purpose, for meaning for my life. And I want guidance, to be pointed in a direction. Then I went a little further and wrote "Help me find what is within me that will give me what I need so that I can live a puposeful life." Pretty big order, Huh? I thought I was done. Well that exercise was easy. I put down my pen. And then the voice in my head (yes I have one of those) said "Give me a name" Whoa! That one will take some really deep meditation, I think. I never wanted to be famous. I really don't care if I am remembered when I die. I just want to know that my being here somehow added positive enrgy to the universe. So I find myself asking, will this pilgrimage that I am dreaming of add positive energy to the universe? In another blog I will addrss that one a little more. I do have some thoughts about that that have been rolling around in my mind.
Skip to the last session of the retreat. We were given a handout entitled "Questions to strengthen and focus desire" She ask d us to particulary focus on the first and last questions. The first "What are my dreams, my longings, my deep desires, What is my deepest call to being? My sense of the underlying purpose of my life?" Well, as I continued to ponder this question I kept coming back to the answer Brain Swimme and Thomas Berry give to the question "What is the purpose of the human?". Their answer is "to be in awe!" If this is my purpose I have to say with no humility whatsoever, I am very good at being in awe. I don't think I will ever get over how beautiful the world is, how magnificent the universe is, how fascinating life is, how wonderful it is to have this gift of being a human on this planet in this time and place. I am really good at awe.
The last question was "What are those most sacred and compelling hopes and purposes in my life?" I haven't had an answer to that in the past but after this weekend I wonder if my hope and purpose is to bring that sense of awe to as many people as I can. To get humanity past the hatred, the fear, the greed, the competitiveness, the focus on the ugliness of life and to, one person at a time, replace all of that with a sense of awe.
Now my life question seems to be: can I best fulfill that purpose here on the farm in Spokane County, WA or on the road, in the National Parks, or as Jeneva quotes, "to infinity and beyond"?
So what do you think?
Thank you for the comments. Keep them coming. Here are some thoughts I have around your comments.
I truly understand what is being said about Angela. She has a harder time than most dealing with change and being a child who was not raised by her parents and who has faced the "loss" of many people in her life, significant adults who moved on, the farm and I have been her only stability. I have certainly been told a number of times that I should simply shove her out the door and tell her to be a grown up and get a life. But she is only 18 and just out of high school. My concern is that at 18, with the unreliability of roommates and the current economy, if she goes out and signs a lease with her minimum wage job that typically affords her less than 40 hours a week she will be an early candidate for a bad credit record, and I really don't want to see her go down that road.
That said, she is planning on starting college and will be eligible for the maximum in financial aid. That along with some that I would budget out of the sale of the house could set her up in her first apartment with several months paid. I think that is the best I can offer.
I have made some inquiries into some of the legal/financial aspects but I am sure there are others that I have not thought about. I have a friend who will let me use his address as a permanent address and I have a great relationship with my credit union and would certainly keep them up to date. I do need to in any case rewrite my will and my end of life/extreme measures document. That I should do anyway. I don't have any stocks or IRA's or anything like that (which I know is making Alison wince) and there is something to be said for having nothing to lose.
It has crossed my mind a few times to lease the farm for a year or two until I see how it goes or to do a lease option if it comes to that with an agreement that after a specified time I could opt to take it back or the other party could buy it if I don't want if back with the rent paid so far a down payment. In fact that is how I was able to buy the farm in the first place. But again, that leaves me with the current mortgage to pay while traveling and that limits the money I have to travel on.
I am going to look into the cost of some local storage units as I will undoubtedly want to keep some things. I won't travel forever and it would be nice to have a few things to move into a new place with. But the smaller the unit the better. Anyone want an antique piano? My tuner says it's the best piano of all the ones he tunes.
The second part of today's blog is going to be about the effect of the past weekend on my thoughts.
I went to my Monastery (yes I think of it as mine), the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood. I am an Oblate member of that community and we had an Oblate retreat this past weekend with Norvene Vest as our leader. She is a theologian and author who has wrtitten several books on St. Benedict and living the Rule of St. Benedict in modern times, which is the goal of the Oblates. Our topic for the weekend was "Desiring Life: The Benedictine Habit of Wisdom" I will give you a few of the highlights of this retreat and then tell you the thoughts and feelings they brought up in me.
One of the first things she said was that the Benedictine life is meant to be the "fulfillment of the soul's desire". She said that God plants desire in us for a purpose and quotes the psalm which says "God's will is my delight". So much for those whose theology is centered on the idea that if it's fun or makes you happy it's a sin. Anyway!
What interferes with our fulfilling our desire? The state of the world. materialism, when what we own becomes our identity, or when we fragment our desire, so that there is no integration.
We are conditioned to try to deny or sublimate our desires. Addicition is often the result of us shutting ourselves off from God's desire for us. God wants our joy.
The things, adventures, etc. that we desire in this world are rooted in our desire for God (my words - and God is in everything that is, so our desire for the experiences of this world is desire to find God). Desire carries us beyond self-control and self management, beyond what we already see and know. It is not a thirst for that which satisfies us but for that which enlarges our capacity to be satisfied.
Our delight and God's will are the same thing.
Wisdom comes from deep discernment and accumulated learning. Each of the Wisdom books of the Bible presents wisdom in a different light. Proverbs presents wisdom as what the wise do vs. what the foolish do. Job addresses the questions: why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God in the world? It allows us to ask important questions even when no clear answers or solutions emerge. The dark night of the soul is not suffering itself, but happens when the God I knew who was comfortable and known is gone and we are invited to know God for God's self. Ecclesiastes questions the notion of salvation history and asks if it is possible to live well
Wisdom invites us to the place where we are not in control (Scary, huh?)
So where does that take us? To our habits of thought. Augustus says there are 3 steps to thought. First, we become aware and decide will I or won't I pay attention to the thought. Second we may consent to the impulse, and third is intention, we take pleasure in the thought. It becomes a habit. At each stage we have a choice At each stage the thought becomes more embedded and more difficult to cast off. So we are called to examine what our most frequent thoughts are about. So by directing them, our thoughts can become virtues rather than habits. Virtue defined as seeing something desirable but out of reach and being willing to risk trying to reach that goal. Risking to follow our true desire. A gift of grace.
Using themes from the Gospels she asked us to answer these questions, which were posed to the disciples by Jesus. From John 1:38 "What are you looking for?" and from Mark 10:36 "What is it you want from me.?" Here were my answers. I am lookng for purpose, for meaning for my life. And I want guidance, to be pointed in a direction. Then I went a little further and wrote "Help me find what is within me that will give me what I need so that I can live a puposeful life." Pretty big order, Huh? I thought I was done. Well that exercise was easy. I put down my pen. And then the voice in my head (yes I have one of those) said "Give me a name" Whoa! That one will take some really deep meditation, I think. I never wanted to be famous. I really don't care if I am remembered when I die. I just want to know that my being here somehow added positive enrgy to the universe. So I find myself asking, will this pilgrimage that I am dreaming of add positive energy to the universe? In another blog I will addrss that one a little more. I do have some thoughts about that that have been rolling around in my mind.
Skip to the last session of the retreat. We were given a handout entitled "Questions to strengthen and focus desire" She ask d us to particulary focus on the first and last questions. The first "What are my dreams, my longings, my deep desires, What is my deepest call to being? My sense of the underlying purpose of my life?" Well, as I continued to ponder this question I kept coming back to the answer Brain Swimme and Thomas Berry give to the question "What is the purpose of the human?". Their answer is "to be in awe!" If this is my purpose I have to say with no humility whatsoever, I am very good at being in awe. I don't think I will ever get over how beautiful the world is, how magnificent the universe is, how fascinating life is, how wonderful it is to have this gift of being a human on this planet in this time and place. I am really good at awe.
The last question was "What are those most sacred and compelling hopes and purposes in my life?" I haven't had an answer to that in the past but after this weekend I wonder if my hope and purpose is to bring that sense of awe to as many people as I can. To get humanity past the hatred, the fear, the greed, the competitiveness, the focus on the ugliness of life and to, one person at a time, replace all of that with a sense of awe.
Now my life question seems to be: can I best fulfill that purpose here on the farm in Spokane County, WA or on the road, in the National Parks, or as Jeneva quotes, "to infinity and beyond"?
So what do you think?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Am I being selfish
This is a question that seems to pop up a lot. Am I being selfish if I leave. Am I being selfish if I stay. Do I love this farm? Absolutely. I wake up in the morning and put on my galsses and lie in bed and watch my favorite tree swaying in the breeze and look at the tree tops and the clear blue sky, and I think about how lucky I am to live in a place so beautiful and so peaceful.
Then I think about waking up on different days in different beautiful places and the glutton in me who wants to experience as much af the world as I can.
Maybe it really comes down to my purpose. Don't we all want to believe that our life has some purpose. I convinced myself that there was a purpose in getting my Ph.d. I often told myself that I was giving my daughters an example. that they could be whatever, do whatever they wanted if they worked hard enough. Now I feel like what I sacrificed was their childhood. So ANgela felt like a second chance and I am grateful, sometime even grateful for my disease, as it let me be at home so that she never had to go to daycare after school, I was here for her and sometimes for the neighbor's children. We had many experiences together, so she was my purpose in life. So if I stay or if I go what is my purpose? How does either of these choices make life meaningful? What can I contribute?
I guess I'll think about that. More later.
Then I think about waking up on different days in different beautiful places and the glutton in me who wants to experience as much af the world as I can.
Maybe it really comes down to my purpose. Don't we all want to believe that our life has some purpose. I convinced myself that there was a purpose in getting my Ph.d. I often told myself that I was giving my daughters an example. that they could be whatever, do whatever they wanted if they worked hard enough. Now I feel like what I sacrificed was their childhood. So ANgela felt like a second chance and I am grateful, sometime even grateful for my disease, as it let me be at home so that she never had to go to daycare after school, I was here for her and sometimes for the neighbor's children. We had many experiences together, so she was my purpose in life. So if I stay or if I go what is my purpose? How does either of these choices make life meaningful? What can I contribute?
I guess I'll think about that. More later.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Thanks for the responses
Thanks to those who responded to my first post. Some of you thought I meant I would travel with Angela. she is my granddaughter. I would be traveling with Jeneva, Angela's mother, and yes it would be wonderful to travel with her. We get along very well and the company would be comfortable.
The biggest hurdle at the moment is Angela. This has been her home all her life and she is not taking very well to the idea of my selling it. I try to tell her that she should move on into her own life but I know how difficult change is for her and losing her childhood home, not having it to come back to, is really hard.
Since making this move would involve an estate sale and the divesting of all my worldly goods I find myself looking around the house and asking "Can I really give up all of my possessions?"
My Benedictine teaching tells me not to become attached to worldly goods but when I consider my maternal grandmother's rocking chair and my paternal grandmother's table and the silly coffee table my dad made for me, etc it isn't as easy as it sounds to let it go. Joey and her kids are coming for Thanksgiving so I told her to look around while she's here so she can tag anything she wants if I leave.
I have put a lot of work and love into this house and the gardens and greenhouses so this is not a choice I am going to make quickly or lightly.
I have considered renting the farm which would be an option if it doesn't sell, but that would leave me with the financial burden and if the renters leave or are not good tenants then I'm forced to come back. Also that doesn't give me the money to pay the student loans or buy the truck I would need or have extra money to travel with. So that is not the best option.
Angela says she's going to win the lottery so she can buy it. Right!
I have a realtor coming next week just to see what she says about real possibilities.
I don't have a definite time frame for how long I would travel, probably until I get tired or my health stops me. I generally think about it in terms of 5 years but that's just an envelope, not necessarily a plan.
So, as I am going about my fall housecleaning I am looking at my "Stuff" and thinking about what it means to get rid of it all. Today I cleaned off the top of the file cabinet and got rid of a lot of minutia but nothing that I would miss. It's amazing how you can have things for years and not touch them or even remember that they are there. If nothing else this discernment will no doubt result in my getting rid of a lot of excess baggage.
More later
Peace to all of you
Lyn
The biggest hurdle at the moment is Angela. This has been her home all her life and she is not taking very well to the idea of my selling it. I try to tell her that she should move on into her own life but I know how difficult change is for her and losing her childhood home, not having it to come back to, is really hard.
Since making this move would involve an estate sale and the divesting of all my worldly goods I find myself looking around the house and asking "Can I really give up all of my possessions?"
My Benedictine teaching tells me not to become attached to worldly goods but when I consider my maternal grandmother's rocking chair and my paternal grandmother's table and the silly coffee table my dad made for me, etc it isn't as easy as it sounds to let it go. Joey and her kids are coming for Thanksgiving so I told her to look around while she's here so she can tag anything she wants if I leave.
I have put a lot of work and love into this house and the gardens and greenhouses so this is not a choice I am going to make quickly or lightly.
I have considered renting the farm which would be an option if it doesn't sell, but that would leave me with the financial burden and if the renters leave or are not good tenants then I'm forced to come back. Also that doesn't give me the money to pay the student loans or buy the truck I would need or have extra money to travel with. So that is not the best option.
Angela says she's going to win the lottery so she can buy it. Right!
I have a realtor coming next week just to see what she says about real possibilities.
I don't have a definite time frame for how long I would travel, probably until I get tired or my health stops me. I generally think about it in terms of 5 years but that's just an envelope, not necessarily a plan.
So, as I am going about my fall housecleaning I am looking at my "Stuff" and thinking about what it means to get rid of it all. Today I cleaned off the top of the file cabinet and got rid of a lot of minutia but nothing that I would miss. It's amazing how you can have things for years and not touch them or even remember that they are there. If nothing else this discernment will no doubt result in my getting rid of a lot of excess baggage.
More later
Peace to all of you
Lyn
Thursday, October 1, 2009
How it all began
Dear friends
This blog is being created so that you, my friends current and yet to be met, can journey with me as I make a big decision that will determine the direction of the rest of my life. Very simply, do I stay or do I go? Before I elaborate I want to set up a few guidelines. I ask that you pray with me about this decision. I welcome any questions you may have that I may not have considered, so asking me things like "How will you keep up with your prescriptions if you leave?" would be helpful to me in my discernment. I may not always print an answer to your questions but know that they go into the "discernment pool".
What I ask that you not do is tell me what you think I should do. I have learned from past experience that when someone gives me direct advice and then I make a different choice it makes the adviser angry. So ask me questions that will help my discernment but do your best to control yourself when you want to tell me which choice I should make. I hope that's fair.
So let's start at the beginning. I celebrated my 60th birthday in June and had a huge amazing birthday party on the same day that my granddaughter graduated from high school. After 41 years of raising children I am now free of that responsibility and I decided that it is my turn now. I may not be as young as I once was but I still have dreams (if I ever stop dreaming just do me a favor and put me out of my misery.) My West African Drumming teacher, Michael, asked me "What is different about turning 60 than when you turned 50?"
My answer was "I now realize I don't have forever to do the things that I want to to with my life". He asked me what those things are and I said that mostly, I want to travel. There are places I have always wanted to see and have not yet visited.
He said "What's stopping you?"
Wow! Um Uh! My first thought was "Money". I don't have the money to travel. And at the moment I don't have a car that will take me very far. Then I realized that I have the money, what is stopping me is the 15 acre farm I live on, because all of my money and energy and time go into the farm.
That led me to the big question. How do I want to spend the rest of my life? Do I want to spend it working all day every day coontinuing to improve and maintain this home or do I want to have fun? It sort of seems like a no brainer doesn't it?
Oh that it were so simple. But nothing ever is. I would sell the farm only if I can travel. That would be the only goal. That would mean selling it for enough money to pay off my mortgage ($46,000) and my student loans ($47,000), buy a relatively new pick up truck (Four wheel drive, extended cab ($10,000), and leave enough in the bank to move into an apartment or put a down payment on a condo when/if I get tired of traveling. Yes, my farm is worth that much. Then I would have my Social Security income to travel on. Oh, I almost forgot, a good lap top.
That would mean being "Houseless" for a while and living in the truck and traveling around the U.S.
It seems as though it would be nice to have my only monthly bills be for car insurance and cell phone.
So what would be the plan? First, I have always wanted to visit all of the National Parks. I have been to quite a few of them but would start over if I went on this pilgrimage. Some of the remote Alaska parks might provide a challenge and I have a feeling I wouldn't be visiting American Samoa any time soon (yes we have a National Park there) .
The really good part is, if I decide to hit the road, my daughter, Jeneva, wants to go along. She would design her Masters project around our visits to the parks so that she can go with me and finish her degree ast the same time. Her major is Natural Resource Management so such a trip would be right on target.
So that is the decision I have to make. Do I stay or do I go?
More Later
Lyn
This blog is being created so that you, my friends current and yet to be met, can journey with me as I make a big decision that will determine the direction of the rest of my life. Very simply, do I stay or do I go? Before I elaborate I want to set up a few guidelines. I ask that you pray with me about this decision. I welcome any questions you may have that I may not have considered, so asking me things like "How will you keep up with your prescriptions if you leave?" would be helpful to me in my discernment. I may not always print an answer to your questions but know that they go into the "discernment pool".
What I ask that you not do is tell me what you think I should do. I have learned from past experience that when someone gives me direct advice and then I make a different choice it makes the adviser angry. So ask me questions that will help my discernment but do your best to control yourself when you want to tell me which choice I should make. I hope that's fair.
So let's start at the beginning. I celebrated my 60th birthday in June and had a huge amazing birthday party on the same day that my granddaughter graduated from high school. After 41 years of raising children I am now free of that responsibility and I decided that it is my turn now. I may not be as young as I once was but I still have dreams (if I ever stop dreaming just do me a favor and put me out of my misery.) My West African Drumming teacher, Michael, asked me "What is different about turning 60 than when you turned 50?"
My answer was "I now realize I don't have forever to do the things that I want to to with my life". He asked me what those things are and I said that mostly, I want to travel. There are places I have always wanted to see and have not yet visited.
He said "What's stopping you?"
Wow! Um Uh! My first thought was "Money". I don't have the money to travel. And at the moment I don't have a car that will take me very far. Then I realized that I have the money, what is stopping me is the 15 acre farm I live on, because all of my money and energy and time go into the farm.
That led me to the big question. How do I want to spend the rest of my life? Do I want to spend it working all day every day coontinuing to improve and maintain this home or do I want to have fun? It sort of seems like a no brainer doesn't it?
Oh that it were so simple. But nothing ever is. I would sell the farm only if I can travel. That would be the only goal. That would mean selling it for enough money to pay off my mortgage ($46,000) and my student loans ($47,000), buy a relatively new pick up truck (Four wheel drive, extended cab ($10,000), and leave enough in the bank to move into an apartment or put a down payment on a condo when/if I get tired of traveling. Yes, my farm is worth that much. Then I would have my Social Security income to travel on. Oh, I almost forgot, a good lap top.
That would mean being "Houseless" for a while and living in the truck and traveling around the U.S.
It seems as though it would be nice to have my only monthly bills be for car insurance and cell phone.
So what would be the plan? First, I have always wanted to visit all of the National Parks. I have been to quite a few of them but would start over if I went on this pilgrimage. Some of the remote Alaska parks might provide a challenge and I have a feeling I wouldn't be visiting American Samoa any time soon (yes we have a National Park there) .
The really good part is, if I decide to hit the road, my daughter, Jeneva, wants to go along. She would design her Masters project around our visits to the parks so that she can go with me and finish her degree ast the same time. Her major is Natural Resource Management so such a trip would be right on target.
So that is the decision I have to make. Do I stay or do I go?
More Later
Lyn
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