Lessons from the burns

I read this thing about forest fires when I was in school, and it basically said that a sustainable forest management plan should include fires because forests need fire in order to survive. It emphasized the science behind the forest’s need to every once in a while burn itself hot and fast in order to clear out the undergrowth and to make way for what is to come next. 

I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m a little obsessed with the ecological principal of succession, but succession in a forest means that even when everything looks like it’s burned to a crisp, just dead and gone, there is still life if you look close enough. The trees survive, even though they may be charred on the outside, their hearts still beat and they will thrive. 

Right at this strange, rebuilding season of my life, succession feels more urgent than ever. While some days I may feel like the wasted and burned version of the forest that you may see from afar, I am actually the still thriving version that survives the fires and rises again. 

That comforts me. 

Picture credit

And now I present....

Big things have happened in the last.....two (?) weeks! Okay, it's really only been one big thing. One big thing that is now sitting in our driveway...

If that isn't enough of a teaser than I'll just give it to you, because frankly, I hate teasers. So, here it is!

TA-DA!

One of the goals we've had for our family is that we wanted to get out and "do more", but after having a baby we realized that it was going to be more difficult to spend time out in nature and camping like we wanted to. It's possible, but there are constraints that make tent-camping (or even plain car-camping) harder for us. So, after spotting one on the road and then doing our follow-up research, we decided that Someday we would buy ourselves an R-Pod.

Because of financial restraints and our dislike of having any kind of installment debt, we have been waiting patiently until we could find a Pod that was in our very specific price range and met our needs. Honestly, it was akin to looking for our home. But eventually our patience payed off and the exact model we wanted showed up at a dealer near our home and we snagged it up. Everything about the situation was right. It was the model we wanted. It was the price we wanted. It's used, but in insanely good condition.

So, now here it is. It's been winterized for us, so for now it sits in the driveway where we can pull together the necessaries that are stored away in other places in our garage. But we're already planning our "shake out" trip for either March or April. That gives us plenty of time to get everything done on the trailer that needs it (mattress replacement, storage solutions, etc).

Oh! And apparently it's tradition to pick name. Now to just get everyone on board with that... :D

The First

And so it begins....again! I've done my fair share of what I'd call "casual blogging" in the past, mostly just small attempts that were really that classic journal style of blogging where there wasn't substance behind the words. Just recording my thoughts through the weeks. They fell by the wayside, as these things often do, when life got busy and I just let it. It's really that simple. I let things slide. They slid so far that they were barely hanging on by their fingertips when I finally stopped and looked around, wondering where those old friends had gone.

I guess I should go back to the beginning, well, the sort-of beginning. Almost two years ago, nearly halfway through my pregnancy, we decided as a family that I would quit my job to stay home and raise our baby. This was a big change for me. The problem was that I had no idea how big it was going to be. I had no idea at the time how it would affect me to leave a job (and apparently an entire identity) and assume a completely new persona.

So, here I am, 15 months after giving birth and starting the slow climb out of this well that I have found myself in. Post partum depression, uncertainty about Who I Am, and What Is My Purpose have plagued me since giving birth. But now it's time to move again. To give in to the process of living and accept that I won't have all the answers and will probably be a Work In Progress for the rest of my life.

I need to be okay with that.

So, what's the point of the blog... I guess this is kind of the question that I need to be constantly answering. For now, let's allow this blog to be a chronicle of our life as a family. The big and small adventures, the food, the friends, the sunsets, bad things, down times, and victories of spirit. Sounds like a tall order but maybe there will be some value in recording our lives as a family. Focusing on that can't be bad.

Right?