Making the Jump

How do you leave a good paying job with steady benefits, a lovely home, amazing friends and a wonderful community for a life of unknowns?

We have been planning this "jump" for 2 years now.  We have talked and planned and dreamed.  But we didn't think about this final part...the part where you actually give notice to your job...the part where every holiday and event is the LAST one you'll go to...the part where you actually leave the home you created.

It's hard.

Really hard.

We said from the beginning that this was the week to put in notice at work, to get the car and the houseboat up for sale, to really start getting ready to go.  We still have about 12 weeks until we leave, but this week is the one where we throw down the gauntlet...and can't turn back.

Needless to say, it's been a stressful week.

I have been sending my husband an inspirational quote everyday on Facebook to help give him the emotional strength to take the plunge and put in his notice.

Thank goodness for old Ralph, his quotes are the best.  I think I would have liked him a lot.

If you're looking for answers and advice in this post, I have little to give, but I will say this...you just have to breath, lean on other people, and cry when you need to.  We KNOW we're making the right decision, but if it were easy EVERYONE would be doing it.

breath.

lean.

cry.

Got it.

Family Mission Statement: A Simple & Meaningful Life

It took two years to complete it...but I finally finished writing our Family Mission Statement. 

(No...I'm not kidding)

Thankfully the process itself is very introspective...so we learned a lot about ourselves.  And in fact it is the single definable reason we simplified our lives, moved onto a boat and began planning our next big adventure. It is the reason we realized that materialistic goals were distracting us from who we wanted to be. 

This project does not have to take two years, as it did for us.  In fact, it could take one afternoon.  But between really wanting to "get it right," writers block and procrastination...I won the Guiness Book award for longest time it took to write a family mission statement.

I went through pages and pages of writing.  I sketched, I read, I brainstormed, I poured my heart out...then I turned the page and poured it out again.  I just felt like it was never right.  It was too long, it wasn't long enough.  There was so much I wanted to say!!

In the end I made it short and simple.  Finally, our Mission Statement.

We want a simple and meaningful life; full of love, freedom, adventure and creativity.

To someone who hasn't spent the last couple of years defining the very words that make up our family vision, and expanding on their essence...this might seem like a pretty generic mission statement.  But that's the beauty of a mission statement...they're only meant to mean something to the group the statement applies to.  It is their guiding light, their way of re-committing to the right path when they go astray.

We DO want a simple and meaningful life, far away from the normal modern stressors; large cities, suburbs, expensive homes, fancy cars, malls, debt, crime, consumerism.  We want a piece of land that is all ours, a small house in the woods, a small farm, bought in cash.  We always want to have love between us, in every stage of our childrens' and our own development. We want the love to be based on open and honest communication, kindness and understanding. 

We want the freedom to feel like we can do anything we want.  We never want to feel like we can't take the job  we'd love because it doesn't pay enough, or feel like we don't have the time to travel, or don't have the money to buy the things we need.  Freedom is the ultimate ingredient to a happy life, and one that most people never get.  A prisoner to their mortgage, pension, car loans, student loans, Starbucks habit, etc...they will never be free, they will never have enough no matter how much they make.  It is a prison that is all too common, and yet completely avoidable. Being free from those burdens will allow us to follow whatever adventures we choose; from open ended travel to starting a farm...it allows us to live our dreams, and teach our children that they can always find a way to live theirs too. 

And lastly, creativity...which is purely about enjoyment for me.  When you have enough time, energy and money to just relax and do whatever you want...sew, paint, photography, sing, play, build...it's like being a kid...forever. 

So, yes, my mission statement might be short...but there is a lot of meaning in those 14 words.

If this is something you are interested in, there are a million resources online.  One of the best resources for us was the book 7 Habits for Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey.  This is the project that started the ball rolling for us, Family Vision Project.

Painting Southeast Alaskan Style

You might live in Southeast Alaska if you paint your house from a boat.

Only here would a crazy Assistant Fire Chief float on the freezing ocean 

while trying to paint those hard-to-reach spots.  

(He was going to swim...I suggested the float...yes, I am a genius)

It was about here that he accidentally pushed too hard 

and ended in a flat spin...sadly I couldn't get the video going in time to catch it. 

Sigh.

Thankfully, while the grown ups were painting, 

the kids were cranking out some homemade ice cream.

We sure know how to party.

My happy corner

In a space as small as ours, you need every little thing to matter.  We don't keep stuff that doesn't have heart & soul.  This little corner is especially soul-satisfying for me.  Some art from Katie Daisy (always inspiring), the guitar carving I bought Jon when we got engaged, the metal halibut that I painted and gave to Jon for our 10th anniversary (did you know it's the fish anniversary? jk) and my grandmother's copper cake tins...it's a whole lot of love in one little corner.

Hardcore Budget Gal

I've already talked about how changing to the cash system (and actually following it) has freed me.  It has.  It really has.  But for the first time since we started, I hit a bump in the road.

Basically we had a little too much fun the first week, and forgot that the money could actually run out. Whoops!

I was basically out of money, and I still had 5 days left until the next budget cycle .  Ok...not a big deal...I always have food that I can stretch out (beans, potatoes and rice alone will last five days) But then I remembered...it was my snack week at the Montessori school!  Every 8 weeks I am responsible for providing a healthy/organic snack for 8.  WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THIS WEEK!?!

Normally I would pick up some brown rice cakes and a bag of organic oranges, or something similar...but here in Alaska that's $10...and I need 3 days worth of snacks!!  AND I HAVE $4!!

This is a very new thing for me.  If you don't have the cash, just put it on the credit card...right?

(You can see why we had to switch to a cash system)

Nope.
Not this time.
I don't do that anymore.

So I took a hard look around me...I had bananas going bad, and plenty of whole wheat, white and quinoa flours.  In the end, with a little creativity, I made 3 days of snacks for 8 kids with NO extra cost to me.

Day 1: Banana Bread with walnuts and sliced strawberries.  (fruit goes a lot further when sliced!)
Day 2: Chocolate Quinioa Banana Bread with carob chips and sliced apples (again, 4 apples for 8 kids when sliced!)
Day 3: Loaf of whole wheat bread, sliced pepperjack cheese and sliced apples (only 3 apples left this time, oh well, they'll live)

BAM!  I'm still sitting on that $4.  Thankfully we replenished the budget money on the 3rd snack day, so now we're good again.  And from this I learned two important lessons...

1) I STILL spend more than I need to.  This was a great lesson/reminder that I still need to slow down and look around before I head to the store to buy something I don't need.

2) So many people in this world don't have enough money to buy food.  I have NO right to complain.  (To be fair, I wasn't complaining) But still, I have plenty of food.  So for me, it was a reminder to be thankful for what I have, and to think about all of those people who really don't have the money to buy what they need.

If there were karate-like belts for staying on budget, I think this week would have been like chopping through all the boards.  I have definitely earned my next belt...I pick teal.  Yes...I am a hardcore budget gal...and I have a teal belt to show for it.  (Not really, that would cost money!)

Being the change I want to see in my kids

Imagine who you want your kids to become...and be that.

All my life (at least as far back as I can remember), I've been a little too serious. When other kids were partying in high school, I was working.  In college, while others were; finding themselves, traveling, partying and generally just being free spirited...I was working more.  When I graduated and got a job, I worked, and then went home.

That pretty much sums up my early life.

Now, truth be told, I am a massive introvert.  Therefore I don't enjoy bars, clubs, crowds, loud people, or idiots.  So...that pretty much limited my free time. I do have the odd story, here and there; of going to a concert in a dingy bar and moshing (sp?) til my neck hurt, or the time I drank beer for my rugby initiation from a strangers shoe, or the time I skipped school to see They Might Be Giants play on the National Mall (only to find the Marine Corps band). But for the most part I simply don't let myself be free to just have fun...at least in public.

This is something I am trying to change, for myself, and for my daughter, who is trying to set the world record for how little she can show in a crowd.  This concert was a good example because as my son was out in front Irish-jigging his brains out, my daughter was quietly, passively, sitting and enjoying the concert.  I hurt for her a little, because I knew part of her wanted to just get up and have a ball without caring what others thought.  

Eventually she did get up, and she tried to get me up...and I did what I always do...I resisted.  I stayed.  I sat.  I declined. But then I saw myself from the outside...and I saw the example I was setting...and I got my ass up.  I spent the rest of the night jigging, clapping, stomping and jumping (yes...jumping) to every single song.

As we left the Lumberjack arena with both of my flushed-face smiling children, I told Laurel "this is what it feels like to live a little".

Tourist for a Day 2015 Ketchikan, Alaska

We just can't help ourselves when it comes to Tourist-for-a-Day.  Do all tourist towns do this, or is it just Ketchikan?  I don't know...but we love it.  It gives us an opportunity to do all the amazing things that the tourist do, but for much much less.  (Thank goodness...how do the tourists afford it?)

Every year we try something new, but only if all of us can do it.  (Some have height and weight minimums)  This year Luke was big enough for the Adventure Karts...yay!  We weren't sure about this one...would it be fun?  Would it be scary?

Fun...check.  Scary...not really.  You could drive fast or slow, you could snake around the road or just drive normal.  It was VERY dusty, and very bright.  (Two things that don't happen too often in Southeast Alaska...so we were elated to have both!)

To be honest, we've enjoyed every tour and adventure in this town...so either everything is awesome, or we're just WAY to easy to please.  Look at the view from the top of the course!  AMAZING!