Core Truths

We wanted to create a life we didn’t need a vacation from. Why? Because we really liked who we were on vacation. When we were on vacation, we were adventurous. We were focused on each other. We made sure everyone was doing things that made them happy. We stayed up late. We played games. We played loud music in the car. When we were on vacation, our main focus was to watch the kids, listen to the kids, play with the kids. Our evenings were relaxed and peaceful. Our mornings, even when rushed, were energetic and exciting. When we were on vacation, there were no meetings, no evening commitments, no swapping off of kids and handing-off of duties. We never dreaded a day, not even a Monday, when we were on vacation. 
We wanted that life—a life we could live like we were on vacation. We decided to take what we loved most about that time, about who we were, and to design a life as close to that as we possibly could. We realized, it’s not doing the dishes or paying bills or answering calls or c...

It’s no secret that our family is made up of a bunch of National Park Geeks, and it was on our first visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a couple years ago that our lives were changed forever. It was Summer 2018, and we completely fell in love with those peaceful smoky mountains and their stunning blue ridges. We knew it was love at first sight when we first entered the National Park, but it was one afternoon driving the Blue Ridge Parkway through the majestic mountains of western North Carolina that Opal and I looked at one another at a scenic overlook and said we have to live here. We must live here. We will live here someday. The rest of that week, my and Opal’s conversations centered much around real estate in the area, the job market, and, probably most importantly, how could we possibly do this before retirement someday. Of course, our three older kids wanted no part of any relocation conversation at that time, but Lucia and Maximilian were 100% on board! Lucia was a...

  There was a time I avoided talking with my husband. Like seriously avoided. Let me explain. For several years, I did everything I could to not be caught off guard with the opportunity to talk deeply and uninterrupted with Brandon. Not about the day-to-day stuff, that was fine. It was the quiet talk of sharing from our hearts that I tried desperately to avoid. Now, you have to know, I love Brandon, with all my heart, but I did not want to talk with him. See, I knew we were both unhappy and I knew if we were given the chance to talk, he was going to tell me exactly what he wanted. And I was fearful that what he wanted just wasn’t possible—I believed the future he dreamed of us living didn’t even exist. This was at a time it seemed we had achieved everything we could in life. He had a good job, I was a stay-at-home mom, all of the kids were in school and involved in things, and the youngest was still home with me. We had a few cars, we were putting in a pool, we took summer vacation...