Rolling the Dice Introduction

Our life is about to change.

Most people who know us might be thinking, "Now what?"


Since I went out on my own at 18, it is true that I have chosen quite a few interesting paths. Yes, I have lived in my '68 VW bus, followed the Grateful Dead, lived in the forest with the Rainbow Family, changed my major 3 times and colleges 4 times, and moved every 3 months until I was 25 years old.
I have been a massage therapist, a herbal consultant, a waitress, an art gallery manager, a karaoke host, a hair wrap specialist, a fundraiser for Greenpeace, an activist for democratic candidates, a nanny for 2 year old twin girls, a natural food specialist, a medical billing program tester, a wedding planner, and a Mary Kay consultant. Yes, but that was then...

I met my husband in 1996, and it's true, from our first date of camping in Sonoma, to moving in together after 3 months, to packing our stuff in storage in Santa Cruz within 5 months, to travel to meet his family in Houston, and coming back only to drive our stuff to Seattle in a U-Haul and parking at the local Marco Polo Motel (off Aurora) for 1 week as we found a place to live and get jobs. We moved apart after 6 months, to getting pregnant 6 months later, to moving back together the next day, to getting married 2 years 9 months later with our son as a ring bearer... I know, it may not be most people's story.

But the last 6 years we have been extremely status quo and proud of it. Husband has had a great job with an internet company and has been continually promoted, I stayed at home with our 2 boys (now 5 & 8) first as a Montessori mom, then a public school mom, to now a homeschooling mom, we played the real estate game and are so lucky now to be living on Bainbridge Island in a 4 bedroom, 3 bath 2700 sq ft cedar shingled with white trim home on an acre of land. We have a 400 sq ft guest cottage for visitors equipt with a kitchenette, bathroom and loft. We have a trampoline and Ket Cars and bikes and scooters for the kids, and a whole room dedicated to their play with art supplies, legos, dress-up, playmobile knights, games and toys. We have a Mercedes station wagon (with the 3rd seat, as all soccer moms need) and a chopper motorcycle (for husband's ferry travel to work) and a work truck we bought for help in our remodeling projects. We remodeled our home for 1 year and now have a gourmet kitchen with fir cabinets and granite countertops and great room with all the latest appliances and equipment, All-Clad cookware and Waterford China. We have 2 stone and propane fireplaces and turn on with the flick of a switch. We have a brand new hot tub that we use almost daily (to relax from our lives) that looks over our western redcedar forest in total privacy. We have a king sized Temperpedic bed on a rosewood sleigh bed frame with our own bathroom and walk-in closet that is overflowing with clothes. The boys each have their own rooms with their toys, books and clothes busting from closet, dresser and bins.

What we have... is every luxury we could ask for and lots of space.

This is when everything started to change. My husband started complaining about how much stuff we had and how many toys the kids had. I started complaining of how big the house was and how cold the big spaces were. I hated walking miles in my huge kitchen just to prepare meals for the family. I started feeling guilty that we had so much for the small family of 4 we had. Some people told me, what I had was about average for most folks, that my house was not, in fact, a mansion. I tried my best to believe that. I tried hard to believe my friend who said I will appreciate the space when the kids grow into teens. Still, the extravagance of our lifestyle was unsettling to my spirit. My husband complained that he was working at a glorified Target and was tired of missing out on the boy's lives just to test a website that sold stuff to people who probably had too much stuff anyway. He wanted to help the world in some way, you know, make a difference. My kids began to complain that there was "nothing to do" and how better their life would be if they had their own computer, a tv or video game. My husband and I started feeling like we had made choices that possibly took us off course, as though we had been working hard for the wrong goals.

I started watching Tim's Seattle Bubble Blog and thought, if we were going to do something, now is the time. I believed the housing market was peaking. Then one early morning -during what some might say was PMS- in May, I did the unthinkable. Without talking to my family, I put our house up for sale on Craigslist- just to see... Within the day, we had an offer, within a week we had a bidding war, and within an hour, we had an amazing offer. They would buy our home, as is (with all kinds of finishing work, remodeling and repairs to do), no inspection, and for an unreal amount more than what we bought it for 1 1/2 years earlier. This began the arguments, discussions, and planning. Do we accept this offer? Do we even want to move? Where will we go? What will we do? What about the children's lives? What about our friends? What about the great money from the job? What about our security?


By the beginning of June, we had accepted the offer, husband told work that he wasn't happy at his job, and got a promotion.
By the end of June, we changed our minds and decided to keep the house.
By the beginning of July, we decided to take the offer, and find a rental on the island. I made plans to go to California for the month of November and take the kids to visit family, to Disneyland, stay in Santa Cruz.
By the end of July, I secretly hoped the people would pull out, so we could keep the house.
By the beginning of August, we both hoped the people would pull out, so that we could keep the house.
By the end of August, we decided to find a rental and let the house go.
By September 7th, we found a great rental. Small, walk to beach, with view, and tire swing, and fun neighborhood dog, for very cheap.

September 8th - my husband woke up and said that he couldn't do it anymore. He wants to leave his job. After an hour and a pot of coffee, we had made our decision. We are selling everything not dear to us (which will stay in storage) and buying a camper Eurovan and moving in, for an unknown period of time.


He leaves for work. I think, maybe he will change his mind. Afterall, my husband grew up in Houston and LOVED it. He loved that there was always something to do. He loved the fancy lifestyle he grew up with. When we first moved to Seattle, he complained a lot how Seattle wasn't a "real" city. He felt so strongly one blurry night out, he told a visiting family from out of state, that they should go to Vancouver, Canada if they wanted to enjoy a "real" city.
Although we live in a somewhat rural-feeling area, he still is going to Seattle everyday for work. The city is in his blood.

Other possible worries are:
-he doesn't really enjoy camping, often complaining of being dirty and cold
-he loves space and everything big, as in Texas, as in our king-sized bed, and our big space home
-he is a picky eater and gets tired of eating the same thing, even leftovers from the night before
-he has always worked and gets bored easily, needing entertainment

He comes home from work, I tell him I still haven't told the rental guy we didn't want it, and we could still change our mind. Husband is shocked and reinstates how excited he is about our journey, and insists I call the landlord and tell him we are not interested. I don't.


September 9th - Owner calls and asks when I am bringing the check over, I regretfully tell him we are taking another path and that we won't be renting his place afterall. I realized this is it. We are really doing this. We tell the children and they are both upset. Neither wants to do this. They want the rental we looked at. They want to stay on Bainbridge Island with their friends.
My stomach aches. I tell them this is an adventure and that we will be seeing family, friends and amazing sites, like the Grand Canyon. They look at me with those unconvinced eyes of children who have been disappointed in the past. I tell myself that they will not, in fact, be disappointed about this new change, but say nothing.

We start packing our first boxes and selling everything else online and through Craigslist. We sold the tablesaw, coffee table, kids playmobil castle, some fancy glasses and my plastic lemonade pitcher.
By the end of the day, I am exhausted...


...and this is only the beginning.