The past few days Stacey and I have been talking a lot about our upcoming trip to Maine. We're really looking forward to seeing the little coastal towns, lighthouses, and natural beauty together...and without munchkin number one and munchkin number two. We can't remember a time since we had Julia (almost five years ago) that we've been able to do something together, just the two of us, this far away and for this long of time (four days). Right now I'm in the middle of putting together the itinerary. We'll also see Acadia National Park and we're trying to hop aboard a schooner for a two hour long sail around the Penobscot Bay (where we're staying in Camden).
All that to say that we're beginning to realize that we're entering a new phase of our life. The past five years have been good but also very demanding, considering the massive changes and events in our life. Settling down in one spot, buying and outfitting a new house, having kids, taking time off from work, starting new jobs, and adjusting to life with Julia and Jonathan have taking up a lot of our time and energy, not leaving room for much else. The "new family" phase, as I call it, is making way for those years where we'll be old enough to start doing some things that will really matter. It's hard for me to explain, but all sorts of things at home, work, and with the kids will all converge over the next few years and put us in a completely different situation then we have been over the past five years.
In a way it's going to open a lot of new doors for us as a family. Since we've worked so hard over the past five years, doing things together as a family has worked its way to the top of our list over the past few days as we've talked about our upcoming trip. Our dreams, as they stand right now, is over the next five years to start doing things like camping in a popup camper, summer weekends at the cabin, and even establishing a location, or a few locations, that we spend an extended period of time together every summer. Maine could be one of those places. We very much like the idea of renting a home for a month somewhere each summer - definitely by water of some kind. Stacey can certainly work from anywhere, and my job has the flexibility to where I may be able to partly do the same and also take vacation for the remaining time.
Over the past few weeks and months I've really started to believe that, for me, doing something like taking a month every summer with the family (plus weekends in Colorado) are what I want to do with my time and money in the future. Every once in awhile, sometimes after taking a walk around the neighborhood, I second guess myself and wonder if we should move to a nicer neighborhood. There are people that I work with that have decided that is what they want to do with their money. Personally, I just can't justify moving from a perfectly nice house in a normal neighborhood to something nicer when the increase in cost is equivalent to spending a month in a vacation house every summer for the next 60 years. Sure, in our neighborhood some people don't take care of their lawns, but when you look at what staying here means in terms of family memories and opportunity to live life then it's not even a close comparison.
We purposely bought less then we could afford but have continued to work hard so that, in the next phase of our life, we could enjoy the fruits of our labor. Although we've worked really hard, we also feel really blessed. The blessings will also open up doors to do things for other people too, not just ourselves. In the next two weeks leading up to our trip it's hard not to think of all the wonderful adventures and memories we will be having and making in the not too distant future though...and you can't really put a price on that.