Into the West

Over the past few months--years--the weight of something has been feeling heavier and heavier on us. We thought it was our responsibilities, tied to our backs, holding us down. We trudged up hills and down ravines but never seemed to be getting to the places we wanted to go.

We thought life was supposed to be that way; that once you grew up you stopped doing things you wanted to do and stuck to the stuff you didn't like. That you always had to take the safe, obvious path. We put our dreams in the closet and got them out to reminisce from time to time, but never considered them as a basis for action. That's just wishful thinking. Kid stuff. And once you have kids, you don't do kid stuff anymore.

But then we stopped and checked the weight on our backs and realized it was wings, tied. Doing things the safe way was wearing us out because we weren't made for walking. Maybe we are crazy. Maybe those wings won't carry us. But we need to try. It was time to get our dreams out and dust them off and work to live them instead of to ignore them.

Where is all this going? Well, one dream we'd shelved for a long time was living in Washington state. We knew our health would be better out there; and without slighting family and friends out here, we left a lot of family and friends out there, too. Instead of waiting for someday, we've decided to make that happen now. We don't know when, exactly. We still don't have the house on the market; we still don't have a job to go to. It is, as you all probably know, not the best of economic times for selling houses and finding new jobs. We decided all this just two weeks ago. We're hoping to make the move in the fall.

We are, by turns, exhilarated, exhausted, and terrified. Flying is scary when you've been grounded for a long time and have four passengers. But we're finding ourselves with energy and excitement we had forgotten we had. I'm organizing that community yard sale I always thought someone else should do. We are positively reveling in freeing ourselves from the things we had been clinging to--instead of hanging onto things for "someday" we are letting go of things for "now."

We would very much appreciate your prayers. And if you know anyone who wants to buy a house in Cincinnati, or hire a financial advisor in Tacoma, let us know.