Now that my job was finished and I embarked on disassembling my current life in the form of selling my "stuff", storing important and sentimental documents and items, organizing my new home and life, and saying good bye to friends and nearby family, I began to reflect on why did I want to buy an RV and travel anyway?
Going way back to my childhood I remembered the biggest influence in my life for this particular characteristic was my Paternal Grandfather. He was definitely one of those people that other people would classify as "a character." He was very outgoing and friendly and loved, loved, loved to talk and share his life stories. Whenever the family would be together and Grandpa Berry would sit down and gather a few of the children together to tell us a story, I was always front and center and the first one there. Most of my siblings and cousins would scatter as fast as possible off to do something they deemed more fun. I was always the last one sitting and listening to his stories over and over again. You see, my Grandfather was a true Hobo. He actually hopped on the freight trains and "rode the rails" all over the country, meeting people, working odd jobs, and enjoying the country up close and personal, including sleeping on the ground or in the freight cars most of the time. I'm sure to many this seemed like a very difficult and rough life but to hear him talk it was the best thing ever.
But, the thrill for me of watching him and listening to him was better than playing outside with cousins. My Grandfather always wore a hat, you know the kind the men wear in Mad Men, and it was always cocked to one side like Frank Sinatra. My father and Grandfather always reminded me of him or vice versa. My Grandpa Berry was a very animated speaker and story teller as well. It is hard to describe but he would stretch his arms out far from his body when describing something he was particularly excited about and he would spread his fingers wide and turn his wrist and curl them back in as he completed his important point or information. I don't remember the exact details of his stories other than him talking about his "cronies," his fellow hobos he would meet out on his adventures and he would talk about different jobs he would get in order to make some money so he could then hop the next freight and move on to the next adventure. I do remember however how I felt and some of the thoughts I had when he would talk. I always felt very excited and thought that what he did seemed so amazing and how great it must be to have had so many different types of jobs! I knew I would like that as well. I also felt that one thing was certain, he was living the life he wanted, he was living life on his own terms.
Many years later I read a story my father had written about his father. It was a true story that he had been told because he was only about 2 when it took place, and his sister was a newborn. The short story is that my Grandmother sent my Grandfather to the store to buy a loaf of bread. On the way back from the store he was stopped by a slow moving freight train blocking his path. He thought he had retired from the Hobo life when he married and had children, but the freight train was pulling on his wanderlust and it was stronger than his dedication to his family and he hopped the train for another 2 year adventure. Now, many of you are probably thinking that is just horrible but by the time I heard this story I was so in love with and enamored with my Grandfather that it didn't impact me in that way. As a matter of fact I came up with excuses for him. My Grandmother he was married to at the time was not a very nice person so I could completely understand why he would want to leave her. I was a little disappointed that he left his children but in the story my father wrote I could tell he had already forgiven him.
So how this all impacted my life? So far, I have been a mother, a wife (a few times - not real great at that job), a hair dresser, a teacher - childbirth and high school, a retail business owner - maternity shops, started a nonprofit adoption center, a business consultant and trainer, a regional manager and trainer - for a massage clinic, a training specialist - a children's hospital, and an employment specialist - for people with disabilities. I am currently working on a line of spiritual jewelry, occasionally being a camp host, and a sales associate for Southeast Publications as I continue my life on the road. And I have very much enjoyed having so many careers and experiences along the way.
And of course being on the road having the adventures my Grandfather did but in a more modern, safe, and comfortable way but it is definitely where some of my wanderlust came from. There were many other influences as well. One being that when I was around 23 and a single mother with a 2 and a 5 year old, many of our family members took a trip across country in an RV. My father, brother, and brother in law, would not allow me to drive stating that I was a girl and wouldn't be able to handle it. I guess I'm showing them what I can handle. Unfortunately my father and brother in law are having to watch from above, but my brother is definitely impressed and a little envious I believe.
The other reasons are a little more personal and psychological. My mother died at 63 (when I was 35) and my maternal Grandmother died at 69. I had always thought that I could also die at 63 or at least in my 60s, no matter how illogical that may seem to others it was how I felt and that time was at hand. I did not want to spend the next 4 years working in a job where I was so unhappy and since Social Security was still an option I decided to go for it. My father had become disabled at 55 and he and my mother never got to enjoy their later years. The other internal reasons were that I was watching one of my closest friends begin to deteriorate with Alzheimer's at the age of 77. If something like that could happen to anyone, I wanted to have as much fun and enjoyment as possible now. I was unhappy and facing the end of my life whether it was in 1 year or 30 years, I wanted to live it on my terms and in my way.