Reflections

The beginning of this year found us living in our sticks and bricks and Mike working extremely long and tiring hours. We had almost given up on the housing market and had taken the house off the market for a "rest" during the winter months. We hadn't gotten around to putting it back on the market when I got a call from our realtor that a former student's parents wanted to move back to LaGrange and wanted to look at our house...would I be willing to show the house? I did and the rest is history. They purchased our home at full asking price and we purchased our "new to us "motorhome. Mike was able to retire in August and we became full-time RVers in August. The realization of a five year dream had come true!!

Mike's health has improved, his back is much better and I have lost 20 pounds (but have more to go). We are living a healthier lifestyle.

On a sadder note - in August we lost our very special Shih Tzu, Molly. Molly lived with us for almost 18 years. She suffered quite a bit during the last year of her life and wasn't going to ever improve. She began her final decline beginning in June when diagnosed with a mammary tumor. She hung on for a few more months and in August we gave her the peace she so deserved. She will forever be missed by her family.

Our son has a good job with possibilities of promotion in 2010. We are so proud of him and thankful for this, especially during this slow job market. He is a great son and we are a great family. Much to be thankful for.

We completed our first volunteer job at Hagerman NWR in Texas just after we began full-timing. We fell in love with Texas and really enjoyed our experiences at Hagerman. We plan to return there in the future. We discovered that we really enjoy volunteering as a big part of our full-time lifestyle. We hope to do more during 2010.

Even though we haven't met many of them, we have become friends with many new full-time friends via the internet.....forums, blogs, facebook. We feel very fortunate to be part of this wonderful community.

We are so grateful God blessed us with the ability to enjoy this wonderful lifestyle. There are so many awesome things to see and do in this great country….we’ve only just begun.
Do we miss anything from our former lives? No, nothing. We brought the most important things with us.
Do we have any regrets? No, not the first one. Every experience in our lives helps to shape us for our future. Our former careers, students, friends, places we’ve lived and our families helped make this possible in their own way. To each of these we are thankful.

It has been a great year, we feel very blessed. We are hopeful that 2010 is just as good or better. We wish all of you a very Happy New Year and may this next year be one of your best also.