Letting Go

Following tracks in the snow at monthly class.

After a four-hour class outside in the snow where our boys followed tracks, scouted a porcupine den, made porcupine quill necklaces, and then huddled around a fire inside a teepee style stick/bough/leaf debris shelter their teacher sadly shared with the students and parents that the series of monthly outdoor classes for homeschoolers we've attended religiously will be ending for good after two more sessions.  We were already planning to leave the class after one more session to pursue our own traveling adventure, but it was disappointing to hear that others wouldn't have the option of this valuable learning experience in the future.  Nonetheless, I resonated with our teacher's rationale: he and his wife wanted to focus on building their education programs in their immediate community which would require letting go of this excellent class over two hours from their homestead.

I admire the courage our teacher, Chris, had to stop doing something that is good in order to pursue a vision that is great.

Slowly detaching ourselves from the life we've built in our local community has been difficult.  Leaving a good job with a good paycheck and some great people was the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean I don't wonder what life would be like if I had stayed.  Preparing to sell our house--the house where our children were born and so far raised--is emotionally difficult, especially for Shelly.  The boys too are reluctant to give up the yard they've made their own by adding forts and blazing trails.  Knowing that we're not going to see our local friends as often over the coming months and perhaps years is possibly one of the most difficult elements.  Though we can keep in touch with friends, it'll feel a bit different to be geographically removed.  If there's an "easier" thing to let go of it's probably our stuff.  We continue to give away and sell things in our house to pare down what we own.  It's another part of letting go.

So it's a good time for us to be reminded that we do all this to pursue a dream.  We're heading on a year-long adventure with our family.  It wouldn't be possible for us to do this while I retained my job.  It wouldn't work for us to fund this year while still holding on to a mortgage.  And of course traveling necessarily means putting some distance between us and our home community.  Thanks, Chris, for reminding us that sometimes letting go of good things is the only way to continue on the journey towards the great future we know will be right for us.

Our journey is uniquely ours, along with its challenges.  But what good things do you struggle to release in order to fulfill your dreams?