That Gypsy Lifestyle (in Bailey Island, ME)

We’ve been in Maine since the beginning of May. It’s the cliche-est of the cliches, but the days are long and the months are short.

May felt like the month that Maine finally caught up with the rest of the country, and spring full-on arrived. The barren trees suddenly sprouted green buds. The beautiful pear tree in the front yard — my beacon of hope for a summer to come — burst into bloom, and the whole place felt *alive*. Spring is short here — but it’s incredible to watch.

And as all this life blooms around us, we continue to toss around life plans, “like popcorn” as I told a friend. 

We’ve been through most of the options lately — we had someone interested in buying Brio (didn’t happen), we tried to get an offer in on our dream-next-boat (didn’t happen), and we were prequalified and ready to buy a multi-family as an investment here in Maine (also didn’t happen)…

It’s a strange freedom and responsibility to feel like anything is possible — to have so many options and so much blank canvas — and also to not want to screw anything up.

In the end we come back to how good life is right now, with the flexiblity and freedom to chase the sun and really spend time together, with our families and our friends and most importantly with each other.

I keep reminding myself that this won’t last forever either — nothing ever does — so we may as well enjoy it while we can, and quit rushing to give away all of our options and freedom.

Chasing Zephyr around — up and down stairs and through the gorgeous backyard here — just underscores how much we want to focus on simplifying things.

Life will naturally add complication, so we really don’t need to attempt to ourselves 😉

Jon made a trip down to Beaufort to tuck Brio away for the summer. Our 3-week visit to Maine became a luxurious 9-week stay, allowing ample time for afternoons on the shore and roadtrips to friends, and visits to farms, and picnics with our baby friends… and we’re off to Vancouver at the end of the month for an overdue visit with my side of the family.

I am so thankful for work that is flexible (“and where are you working from today??” is a favorite question of my coworkers) and family that don’t mind us crashing in their homes… the key to this gypsy lifestyle really is the people who support and embrace us and love us all even when we do (over)extend our stays… 😉

Honestly, I kept imagining what it might be like to write the blog post announcing the big new life plan… Brio is for sale! We bought a new boat! We bought a house! All the excitement and energy. It’s been challenging to lay the future-focus aside and be honest about the messy middle instead. I don’t have a big exciting update, and I’m working on embracing that.

Lots and lots of pictures of the small child that I absolutely adore help 🙂

We chose “equilibrium” as our theme for 2019, and in the end — despite some serious efforts to the contrary — we seem to be doing a half-decent job of embracing it.

LMK


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