We have spent 4 years preparing for this day - our retirement. That alone was a journey. It started with a dream, then a conversation - actually, many conversations, then researching, planning, and finally taking action. We had similar dreams, but they had variations that can often be overlooked. “I’ll never live in a trailer” can mean different things like, I’ll never live in a small trailer. “We want a bigger boat” - but how big. “We want to be off grid” means a lot of preparation to be self sustainable. “How much is all of this going to cost” meant a lot of researching, downsizing, and tighting up the spending. But we did it, slowly and methodically planning and preparing for what that dream would become.

Then came all the festivities. When you spend over 80 combined years serving the same community, you acquire a lot of colleagues and friends - our tribe - and we love them all. So we had to have a party. With the previous 2 years of Covid restrictions, some of the events were virtual and some were in person (with precautions). It was a week of festivities and what a great send off as they launched us into our life of more adventures and exploring.

Thank you Beth for sharing this poem - it sets the stage for our future:

There's a place that I travel, when I want to roam, and nobody knows it but me.
The roads don't go there, and the signs stay home, and nobody knows it but me.
It's far, far away and way, way afar, it's over the moon and the sea.
And wherever you are going, that's wherever you are …. And nobody knows it but me.
-Patrick O'Leary

Most important to our lives is walking and living in God’s blessing - so here we go….