Give it way, give it way, give it away now

The daunting task of selling and giving away 90% of the possessions, or "stuff" that we accumulated over the past 40+ years has officially been put into motion. The giving away is pretty darn easy, but the selling, and the sacrifices in lifestyle that accompany the sale are starting to make our adventure feel so real, or is that surreal.

 We have sold our bedroom set, washer & dryer, TV, truck, living room set, and a slough of other household items, and are on the verge of the refrigerator, stove, and many other items that make day to day life comfortable. But we still have a little over four weeks before officially moving aboard our boat Cerridwen. This dream does not come without sacrifices, but that's why so many people are unwilling to take on a change in lifestyle of this magnitude. Simplifying life is everything but simple, after spending 30+ years complicating it.

We hear comments daily now from friends, family, and acquaintances that are not from this lifestyle, that they could never do ... , or aren't you afraid of ... , but the truth is that we must be the odd ball out. With the dumbing down of our society with all the hillbilly realty shows and such, and the high pace hurry hurry lifestyle that is apparently the american dream, we feel the most valuable commodity in life is family and TIME! People have all of the many many conveniences of today that apparently save time, but surprisingly have less spare time, and higher stress levels to show for it. For us, we are choosing a higher quality of life over a higher net worth, or more so called "security". Dying, sharks, being in the middle of the ocean, the list goes on and on, do scare us, and you had better give them all great respect. But what we truly fear is going through the rest of our lives in the same day to day routine "we refer to as a rut" over and over until our final tide rolls out. No this is not for everyone, and quite frankly we are glad! It wouldn't be nearly so peaceful then, but it is definitely for us, and we are growing anxious to get on with the adventure, and get back to "LIVING", instead of just living "if we have to explain it you wouldn't understand". It has been a five year, very disciplined commitment to rid ourselves of debt, stuff, and societies cold paw holding us by the foot. But it is now time to jump, and we have complete faith the net will indeed appear.

 So we may be sleeping on the floor, cooking chili from a coffee pot, playing Yahtzee or reading a book instead of watching TV, pulling our beers and food from an ice chest instead of a refrigerator, riding a bicycle or rowing our dinghy instead of driving, or having to put a sleeping bag over us instead of turning up the heat, ... but guess what? We are OK with that! Because at the end of the day we have a fabulous sunset to watch, and a freedom that so very few really understand today.

 To everyone that truly enjoys their life just the way it is. Congratulations, and we definitely mean no disrespect. It just scares the heck out of us.

Four weeks until we are no longer CLOD's (Cruisers Living On Dirt).