We are heading out soon and I can feel the anticipation of wandering settling over me like the dust on a dirt road. Our first road trip was 6 weeks in a Chevy Tahoe and I’ve craved the road ever since. There are checklists and store runs. There are so many purchases, so much loading. We feel we need everything before the launch of the big epic trip we have mapped out to explore the Pacific Northwest. It is an effort to pare down, to slow down. Oddly enough it can be more costly than expected, not just in tuning up the trailer but in putting down the things that have a hold on you. What I’ve found to be true for us, it is worth it. We know something will be left behind, but on every trip, we discover nothing crucial is ever forgotten. Life becomes smaller overnight. I crave this warm blanket of comfort that stretches across the five of us in our 600 square feet and it feels like one big snuggle.

I like to know where my people are, or at least know I’m close enough. What we have in each other is what I really want. This is exactly why I begged for one last excursion. Our oldest is headed into high school. Our youngest is 5. Our middle girl, our favorite girl, we like to call her is double digits at 10. We believe that if we can lock in time like this, maybe, just maybe, we can hold onto the little sheltered spirits in them a while longer. At the same time, we believe we can give them the tools to conquer the big, ugly world out there. Life is so messy. A part of me never wants them to discover this, but they will. They all will.