It began just over 4 years ago when I left the only city I’d ever called home to pursue something different, to discover what else life could offer and to, in many ways, discover for the first time a life I chose for myself.  The initial feeling was fear, and in all honesty, I was a bit terrified to leave everything I’d know and move to a new city with just two suitcases, and one friend.  I was determined to create a new path for myself, one that allowed new opportunities, freedom and adventure.  These last four years have been the finest yet and life feels like it really started once Seattle became home.  Often when referring to my time back in Michigan I cite it as my “past life” because that’s very much what it feels like.  I’m sharing this with you because we’ve just returned from 5 weeks away from home, traveling, spending time with family, living a most unconventional life and I’ve been reflecting as to how I got here and how grateful my heart is.  It brought me back to that initial feeling shortly after my cross country move, like a child first learning to ride a bike and realizing the possibilities of her potential.  It’s the type of feeling that causes a grin which can’t be suppressed.  My travels didn’t really pick up until the past 2 years and before that I was a nanny to one amazingly funny, handsome, smart, little boy whom I cherish.  He was right by my side almost every day during my new found journey here and we discovered our new city for the first time together with excitement and anticipation.

Last year I made a conscious decision to say “yes” more to opportunities and travel.  In many ways I’m a very cautious person, wanting to be prepared and plan ahead but when an unexpected drive hits, I tend to make spur of the moment decisions and those are usually the ones that propel my story into something more interesting.  It’s been the more spur of the moment decisions that have led to calling Seattle home, to meeting my husband (that is one seriously serendipitous other story), and to taking the leap into full time self employment.  All of my biggest decisions in life so far have sprung from that and landed me on this course.  In my “yes” decisions, traveling has increased 10 fold and I make decisions with a new perspective.  Often it takes only a simple question to determine what choice needs to be made and it is this… “in 5 years, what will be remembered more?” It’s that simple.  It’s not always easy because it’s the obvious answer in that question which has led me to turn down appealing work opportunities, but I haven’t regretted a decision from it yet.  2012 is looking pretty incredible with more travel ahead and shared experiences with friends and loved ones and in 5, 10, 20, 50 years from now it’s the vagabonding that will hold the cherished stories.