Wanderlust in my blood.

It’s funny how life goes. The way you dream your life will be and how it actually goes rarely are the same. And I’ve slowly learned that that’s okay. 

When I was younger, our family moved. A lot. I was a missionary kid. My parents were from 2 different countries. I lived in 3 countries and numerous states. And I didn’t make it easy on my parents each time they uprooted us. In fact, I'm pretty sure I talked back, complained and fought with my siblings nonstop. Sorry Mom & Dad!  I was fortunate to have a built in best friend, with my big sister, and while we mostly fought, my little brother and I kept each other entertained a lot too. I learned to adapt quickly and became very comfortable with change and making new friends. As an adult I realized I craved change and loved new experiences. 

When I was 17, I decided I completely hated school. I lived in the town where both my parents went to the University and so had my grandmother. It was assumed I would go there to I guess. The thought of staying in Arkansas for 4 more years had me so frustrated. So I asked my parents if I could go overseas. Mom said if I figured it out and paid for it, sure. So I did. I had an amazing opportunity to return to my birth country, Papua New Guinea at the age of17. During that time I realized I wanted to spend my life working in clinic settings, helping people. I returned and went to University, getting my BSN and along the way met and married Robert. 

We lived in Searcy, AR; Memphis, TN; Nashville, TN and last in Tallahassee, FL. So even thought I had dreamed of staying put somewhere forever as a kid, I realized as an adult that was the opposite of what I wanted. Wanderlust just runs through me. Even though I thought I wanted to settle down and give my kids the opportunity to have a "one hometown" childhood, I quickly that was going to be a hard challenge for me. My coworkers know all this the best because I constantly struggled of desire to travel and trying to give my kids a normal life and talked about it nonstop. Of course, we all do things for our kids so I made the most of it but ultimately struggled with "staying put" in one place. Robert made sure to help make it easier on me by taking lots of trips and letting me dream of my "one day adventures". 

And then of course 2020 happened and just like everyone else we felt shook. Life turned upside down. All the emotions, all the feels.  Frustrated, clueless about so many unknowns, helpless and on top of that, suddenly parenting was completely different. We both worked in a hospital setting and were feeling the turmoil and stress of covid19 like everyone else, but trying to figure out how to have childcare and provide proper schooling for our elementary kiddos...No one really wanted to watch kids of parents who worked in a hospital. We were leaving our kids home alone to fend for themselves and asking them to complete school assignments independently. (I know, not our finest moments). But survival, right? This weighed heavier and heavier until we both realized something would have to change when school was to start back in the Fall. We couldn't keep expecting our kids to be able to care for themselves, complete school assignments and get along while we were off working.

About the time we were feeling completely overwhelmed, the idea opened once again for me to consider being a travel nurse. We had talked about it when our kids were young - travel nursing was my dream and I knew it would be a perfect fit- but also both agreed it would be a lot to uproot our kids, so we would wait until our youngest graduated for me to travel nurse. (That would be in 2030)!! We analyzed it from all the angles and it seemed perfect. About that time,  Levi announced a lot of people had campers and why didn't we just get one and drive around in it as a family? 

And that is how we decided to hit the road as a travel nurse family in the Pandemic of 2020.