Our prompt word of the day today is “gratitude.” Thank you so much, Carol Anne for your wonderful prompt!

I have so much to be grateful for! The ability to live this lifestyle, friends, family, my husband, being able to follow my church services online, therefore keeping my connections to our church, my dad-for leaving me with a little bit of money-so I can contribute to bills, groceries, or whatever else we might need, and so much more. That sounds weird to say, but I was not expecting it, and I greatly appreciate the fact that he provided for me what he could in his will. He and my mom had a good life, but were not wealthy. To hear my mom talk, they lived pretty close to their vest, which is why I thought she babysat -for extra money. Turns out it was because she didn’t know what to do with herself once us kids grew up and moved out.

I’m also very grateful to my husband for listening to me when I told him we needed a retirement planner, and for being so good with his financial abilities before we got the planner. His management of our finances is what allows us to live like we do. Surely in the future we may get brave and try our hand at “boondocking” and moochdocking (camping in a friend’s or family’s driveway), to save even more money, but we are doing fine right now. I saved a bit myself, and the money Dad left me went into my savings -which we will use as our “cushion” if we get in a bind.

God gave me the unique gift of caring for and about other people, which helps me make friends and new connections in this life on the road, as well as my old friends who stick by me and stay in contact. I love to be useful, so if I can help someone in some small way, I try to do that.
At some point in our journey, I’d love to find a new volunteer opportunity, or workamp and help others as well as ourselves.

Of course, I’m most grateful to you, my blogger community, for being the warm and friendly people that you are, for following me and keeping me accountable and interested in writing. Thank you! As long as you are interested in what I have to share, I’ll be here with a smile on my face. 🤗☺️

Last but not least, there’s my family-who gave us their blessing-when we decided to pack up and hit the road! I worried in the beginning that I was making a mistake by leaving them, but they assured me that we should and deserved to go out and live our dream. For that I am eternally grateful. My babies well-being is important to me, but whether I am physically there or not, they know I’m always here to listen. If they need more help than that, they are grown men, they have to figure it out, but in a true emergency, we will help if we’re able. I’m grateful to my brother for taking over the job of Sunday family dinners, keeping the family unit together. We all stay in touch through talk, text, and FaceTime, but I’ll be happy when it’s time to visit in person as well.