“Deep breath, here we go.”

That was what I thought a year ago today. The day we finally finished packing up and cleaning out our house. The day I said goodbye to my home and hello to life in a travel trailer with my husband, daughter, our dog, and two cats.

I remember being so tired, so utterly exhausted after months of renovations on the house to get it ready to rent out. Weeks of sorting our stuff, packing boxes, having yard sales, and trips to Goodwill.

So. Much. Stuff.

But then on that last day, the last drive to storage, the last bit of cleaning up the house — it was all so… empty. Like a blank space. My house, filled (overfilled, really) with all the stuff from my whole time in this life, was so bare I almost didn’t recognize it. I walked around, taking photos of empty rooms and marveling at all the SPACE that was there. It echoed when we talked. The last time my house echoed was 17 years ago when I moved in.

I had finally done it. I’d been wanting to travel long-term since I was a teenager, and I finally, actually, really pulled it off. We were leaving.

My new home, our travel trailer, is much smaller but has the benefit of wheels to roll and a hitch to attach it to our truck, which takes us wherever we want to go. And we’ve gone so many places, seen so many things, and had so many experiences.

I like to tell people that we have adventures but that adventures aren’t always fun. They can be annoying, infuriating, exhausting, and sometimes scary. But adventures, even when not fun, are usually good for us. Having an adventure means I’m out of my comfort zone, which is where most of the learning and growth comes from. I was safe at home, even happy there. But I wasn’t learning and growing as much as I am here on the road, having adventures, good and bad.

The past year of travel has been incredible. I can’t adequately describe how it feels other than to say I know I’m in the middle of what I’ll look back on when I’m old as the best time of my life. Every day I take a few moments to appreciate where I am and how I got myself here.

Mostly I’m just grateful. Grateful that I could do something like this. Grateful that I have the ability to step outside a path that most people walk in their lives. And grateful that I have people around me willing to take that path with me.

What a magnificent year it’s been. I’m looking forward to more.