Following Your Dreams

We hear people constantly saying how they wish they could "THIS" or they would love to do "THAT" but most of the time they only dream about it and talk about it. But they never do it.

Back in October 1982 I took a trip to Alaska with my mother.  As the plane circled to land in Anchorage, I looked out at those beautiful mountains, with tears in my eyes, turned to my mother and said "I'm going home, selling everything I own, moving into a VW van and moving here."  I crossed the Canada Alaska border in my VW bus on Easter morning, 1983 and never left.

When I started working in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 2008, I kept thinking that it would be neat to ride my bicycle all the way home from work one day, all 830 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Palmer.  In July 2010, I arrived in Palmer on my bicycle after 19 days through mud and rain and mosquitoes.

For a couple of years now I have been feeling so much stress because of the house that I own in Palmer.  Constant repairs, constantly worrying what might happen when I am away for a month at work or even longer while traveling.  I can't even begin to count the hundreds of times I have said that I wish I didn't have a house.  I long for those simple days living in that tiny RV with only my Yorkshire Terrier.  Recent disasters from the high winds and heavy rains of September have caused me thousands of dollars in repairs and frustration beyond description from dealing with dishonest and inconsiderate construction companies.  Today I ask myself why I am doing this?

What if I were to buy a nice little lot on a little lake somewhere in my beautiful Alaska?  What if I were to buy myself another VW van like the reconditioned 4 wheel drive one I saw last summer?  What if I were to then sell my house, get rid of all my clutter, lock my beautiful Old Town canoe to a tree on my new lot, and go back to the simple life that I miss so much?  How many times do I have to ask myself that question before we see me drive off in my new van with my house fading in the rearview mirror?

It could happen.  I hope that it does.