Dorothy clicked her ruby red heels together three times and wished to go home.
Me? I repack the same 5 Rubbermaid totes, shut the trunk to my CR-V and hit the road. Not always wishing to go home but this time, I couldn’t think of a better destination to be headed.
By the time I will be in my vehicle headed north, I will have completed 18 months of travel.
Can you believe that?
Me either.
I can’t believe how quickly time is passing. I am happy to say that I am still as excited and intrigued about my adventure and nomadic lifestyle as I was when I first started.
After spending last summer in Ludington, I knew that would be the best place to spend the summer months again this year!
Not to mention that if I stay in the south any longer I might just die from the heat, it is certainly something that I am not used to!
While I have always loved being home and around my family, there was a time believe it or not that I wasn’t over the moon to be headed to Ludington. It felt too small, and like there wasn’t anything for me to do.
I thought Ludington was boring, and don’t get me wrong, sometimes it is. I do think we can throw away the negative connotation that sometimes is stuck with the word boring.
While there are generally less options than the places I have been living, it is unique and so so special in its own way.
There are way worse places that I could have grown up.
Ludington is a city that I didn’t fully appreciate until I was away from it for a long time. The familiarity provides a certain level of comfort that I have yet to find along my travels. It is the only place that I feel I can call ‘home’ at this point in time.
It is weird to think about all of the structures that have provided me with temporary housing, yet none of them has felt like a space of my own.
I feel like I am almost in some sort of limbo.
Lucky enough to have a place to stay during all of the stops on my travels, yet not having a space anymore that truly feels like ‘mine”.
Just like any season of life, I know that this one is temporary. One that is meant to be nomadic, so there are some sacrifices that I must make to continue on this path. I am still happy on the path that I am on; it is just one thing that I have begun to notice more and more.
I am finding that one of the only things I miss most outside of a sense of community on my travels is also the feeling of permanence.
The ability to sit on your own couch after a hard day's work, cook a meal using all of your preferred utensils and eat it on dishware that you’ve had for years while admiring all of your favorite decorations. Things that I certainly took for granted before. I look forward to a day in the future where I have another space to call my own.
Until then, I hope my parents don’t mind the extended stays in which I feel a little more at ease and at home.
Along with the ability to be in a space and city in which nothing is unfamiliar, I get to spend time with my family and relax on a couch that I don’t have to Lysol 10 times before feeling comfortable to use!
Until then, Mom, Dad and Marta, I hope you don’t mind me crashing the party for the time being.
I am happy to be home.