One Year Later

Whirlwind.

That is the word I would use to describe the events of exactly one year ago this week.  In the course of five days Kelly and l located, negotiated, and  finalized the purchases of our Airstream and pick-up truck.  The truck was bought 30 minutes from home while the trailer was purchased nearly 700 miles away.

With events culminating exactly 365 days ago, Kelly and I surrendered our beloved RV named Lulu and took possession of the Airstream.  A day we had envisioned and talked about so many times before was finally real.  After years of yearning for this moment we pulled away from the Portland Airstream dealership giddy with enthusiasm before suddenly finding ourselves scared shitless, wondering if we had gotten in way over our heads.

New to us, Lulu awaiting many great adventures

A few years later… transferring items from one rig to the other

Our first two nights were spent at the fabulous L.L. Stubb Stewart State Park ferociously reading manuals, learning about our new home, pondering how to orient our belongings, and convincing ourselves that living full-time in this new Airstream of ours was not a mistake.

Somewhere along the line we named her Mabel.

Our first day of ownership

One year later, we couldn’t be happier.  Living simply fits us like an old sweater … snug, but not too much so and just warm enough to be comfortable without feeling too warm.

In hindsight, we should have made this move much sooner and we kick ourselves for waiting so long.  Fear of change can do these things.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Mabel.

Joining us on this special day, our dear friends Marty & Brett made time this morning to visit.  Marty has been one of my best friends for as long as I can remember.  Good friends will do good things – and in this case, driving way out of their way this morning just to spend 2 hours with Kelly and me for brunch before catching a flight back to the east coast.

Brett & Marty

Kelly made a fabulous frittata (which by the way she totally stole from Laura) and while the rest of California was seemingly suffering through insanely high temperatures, the four of us accompanied Lilly for a nearly perfect ocean-front walk.

Brunch

A great start to the day.