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