Why Meander?

The “why” of us doing this is not easy to explain.  I think it was a multitude of factors that lead us down this path.  One was the loss of Jason’s 18-year-old son in a car accident, but there was more to it than that.  When I grew up there was no question I would go to college.  That is just what you did.  So, when I graduated high school, I went to college like a good girl because like most people, I wanted the house, the car, the husband and the dogs (no kids for me!).  Also like most people, I recognized to get those things, you need money which of course means a decent job.  That’s what people do, right?  They grind it out 5-6 days a week, 8-9 hours a day so that they can put food on the table, have a roof and maybe, if they are lucky, take a vacation once a year.

Over time, I started feeling “why” are we doing this?  At the time, my position at work had morphed into a role that wasn’t me.  So why stay?  So I can buy a Mercedes or a BMW?  Was it worth it?  The answer I concluded was “no, it was not worth it”.  The stress of the job was not worth a fancy car or house that frankly I did not need.

Some people will think, I am crazy.  After all, I had “made it” in my career.  I worked so hard going back to school and becoming a CPA, then in just six years on the job, I was partner at a CPA firm.  Wow!  I was finally a success, but was I?  I was miserable.  There were great things about the firm and the job, it’s not that.  It just wasn’t for me.  I was never confident enough in myself.  There was constant worry that the advice I was giving clients was wrong or inaccurate or that I missed an opportunity for them.  I would lay awake at night worried about how I worded an email or replay a conversation over and over to see how I would do it better next time.  On top of that, me and another partner oversaw the HR functions of the firm.  Holy crap!  I certainly realized at that point, management is not my strong suit.  I enjoy the work of accounting and taxes and I hope to get back to it someday, but not in the same capacity.  I want to be the “worker bee” that gets it done while others deal with the staff and client issues.  I would be a huge asset to a firm that is willing to let me work in the shadows…..the accountant in the back room chugging away with the computer and calculator. You know, the idea everyone has about how accountants work!  LOL!  (Hit me up if you have an opportunity like that where I can work remotely!)

At the same, Jason became very passionate about photography and nature and was not feeling fulfilled by his own career.  It became harder and harder to go to work in a gray cubicle when there is so much of the country (and world) he hasn’t seen.

Now I hope you don’t take this as we are “looking down” on people who do the grind, we certainly are not!  Everybody should figure out what they want out of life for themselves and our idea is certainly not something that would work for everyone.  This is just the path we have chosen for ourselves.  And hell, it may not work out for us.  Six months from now we may look at each other and say, “what the hell were we thinking when we did this?”.  If that happens, that’s ok.  We stepped out of our comfort zone and tried it.

All of those things together and more led us to this path.  This path of less “stuff” and more experiences.  Who needs all that stuff anyway?  We have what we need in the RV and we have each other and the dogs.  I can’t ask for much more than that.  Time to meander…..