WHAT
HAS BEEN HAPPENING
I can’t
believe this is the first blog I’m sitting down to write since we landed back
in the US. Emotions and plans start snowballing and you lose track of time and
all the things you are “going to do tomorrow”. But as I sit here in Ashland,
Oregon- I finally have a moment to breath. Woosaaaa…
Once we
arrived in Buffalo after a long 19 hours of flights, we were greeted with
balloons and hugs from my parents- much needed! Spending two weeks in Buffalo
turned in to almost a month with some time spent in Fredonia to see our good
friends Chuckie and Kari. We went boating, fishing, four wheeling and target
shooting, all in one weekend. It was a BLAST.
After a
month we were finally off to the west coast, as planned. Two checked bags each
and a one-way ticket to Sacramento; we were ready to figure life out!
Side note- check out that handsome man below with a face you can see!! Bye bye beard...for now.
Our plans
west had a lot to do with our mutual friend Brad. Adam has known Brad since he
was 15 years old and I met Brad when I purchased the house next to him in 2009.
As you could probably guess, Brad is how we met so we owe a lot to him for
that. :)
Brad
wanted his vehicle moved from Sacramento back to where he was residing in
Oregon. Seeing that we had no real plans, we agreed to fly into Sacramento and
do this for him, as it would also provide us a vehicle- perfect!
Once we
arrived in Sacramento, plans changed again. I think I have gotten PRETTY GOOD
at going with the flow as I used to get SO incredibly stressed out with
planning things and dealing with changes. Brad’s mom needed help moving her
things out of a storage unit that was located in Carlsbad California, near San
Diego. SO guess where we were headed.
We drove
from Sacramento to Carlsbad [about an 8 to 9 hour drive] and helped his mother
for the next two days organizing and cleaning out her storage unit.
We then
were going to make our way back up to Oregon to bring Brad’s vehicle home. With
all of the wild fires happening and the earthquake hitting Northern California,
we made the decision to detour to Las Vegas and make our way up to Oregon
through Reno.
We spent
two nights in Vegas catching up with friends and exploring around areas we may
want to live. We spent the second day hiking around Red Rock Canyon and had an
AMAZING dinner at India Palace- discounted thanks to Restaurant.com. Ha!
It was a
FAST two days but we will be back to Vegas and it may be possibly to live.
We left
Vegas and made our way to Ashland, Oregon [13.5 hour drive] where we are now. Saw wild donkeys, rams, and incredible views along the way.
The plan is to explore around here and the Portland area to see if this may be
where we want to settle down.
EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER
So
bringing us from when we arrived back in the US to now, I couldn’t even begin
to explain the emotions that have taken over. In a way, it was just as much of
a culture shock coming back home as it was entering a country I have never been
to before. During the 6+ months of traveling, I have seen so much and
experienced so many different things it’s hard to keep track. But the hardest
thing that I have to remember and continue to tell myself is: no one
cares about what you just did as much as you do.
Why
doesn’t everyone want to go through all 5,000 photos with us? I mean, that
answer may be a little obvious but its something you can’t let yourself forget.
This was MY journey. I decided to travel for MYSELF because I needed something
more. I needed to figure things out. People always talk about leaving, but what
about coming home?
There was
an article written about this and I couldn’t have said it better myself. It was
posted the week we were coming home and it made so much sense. Read it here:
The Hardest Part of Traveling No One Talks About.
Here’s a
small excerpt:
“…Part of
you is screaming don’t you understand how much I have changed? The way your
dreams have changed, the way you perceive people differently, the habits you’re
happy you lost, the new things that are important to you. You want everyone to
recognize this and you want to share and discuss it, but there’s no way to
describe the way your spirit evolves when you leave everything you know behind
and force yourself to use your brain in a real capacity, not on a written test
in school. You know you’re thinking differently because you experience it every
second of every day inside your head, but how do you communicate that to
others?
You feel
angry. You feel lost. You have moments where you feel like it wasn’t worth it
because nothing has changed but then you feel like it’s the only thing you’ve
done that is important because it changed everything. What is the solution to
this side of traveling? It’s like learning a foreign language that no one
around you speaks so there is no way to communicate to them how you really
feel.”
It just
makes so much sense. You experience so much and just can’t seem to put words to
it. But internally, you know what you did, what you saw, and the countless of
things you have learned along the way…and to me, that’s enough.
Adding to
the emotional roller coaster is the constant reminder from my bank account that
I need to GET A JOB. Quite obvious, but it isn’t that easy. With spending hours
critiquing my resume and searching for opportunities all around the west coast,
I have to remember that although it may take some time, I will not settle for
something I’m not excited about.
Being
gone for so long you learn to cherish each day and realize that staying stuck
in something that makes you unhappy is only the fault of your own- job, life,
anything. I will continue to search for opportunities but will not just settle
for the reason only to have a job. I want to find something that motivates me.
Something that drives me to wake up every morning with the excitement to go to
work.
HAVING
SAID THAT- for someone who has worked since the age of 14 and almost ALWAYS had
2 jobs at a time, I feel like I’m slightly going crazy. What I said above is
true, but not having work is not in my DNA. Before we left in January, I had a
full time job Monday-Friday and worked in a fine dining restaurant on
Saturdays. I love it. I love to be busy and keeping the restaurant job took me
away from sitting behind a desk and allowed face-to-face interaction. There
also is nothing like working in a restaurant. You aren’t co-workers, you are a
family. I believe that you work 10x harder when the environment you work in is
a positive one and the team you work with is a cohesive one.
I hope
once I do find the job that settles me somewhere on the west coast that it is a
place where positive communication and unity is important. I am eager as I see all different opportunities on the west coast and have faith I will find
the perfect fit.
That’s
all for now from sunny Oregon. I will be working to update the content and
photos on HauserBautz.com with new goodies from the trip.
Can’t
Stop, Won’t Stop.
