Exactly one year ago today, April 22, Tom and I left our house and moved into our RV full-time.  It was the day after Easter and John came up to help us with the heavy stuff.  We took a couple of truckloads to the RV and took a U-Haul load to church and we were moved out.  Quick and simple.  Of course, that came after two years worth of cleaning, purging, sorting and selling!

After one year, we do not miss the house.  We do not miss caring for the house, weeding the gardens, mowing the lawn, taking care of the pool.  We do not miss the expense of a house.  We have (almost) everything we need in the RV and I feel like we did a pretty good job anticipating what we would need and not need to bring with us.  The only thing I miss that I had in the house is my piano.  I finally have the leisure to play it and I don’t have it with me.  I thought I would find pianos at campgrounds or churches along the way, but the only place I’ve been able to play is when I’m at my mom and dad’s.  But missing the piano is a small price to pay for the freedom of this lifestyle.

We brought plenty of stuff with us.  We plan on going through our closets again when we get to Ohio and getting rid of some more stuff that we haven’t used.  We also left some boxes of books and a couple of bins of clothes at John’s that I think we will sort through and eliminate.

So how are we doing at living in 350 square feet of space after a year?  Great!  I’m glad to report that Tom and I are not at each other’s throats as some of our friends predicted.  Neither of us are feeling smothered.  Tom and I like the togetherness.  We talk more and eat meals together.  We take lots of long walks and hikes together.  I am thankful that I was wise enough to marry an amazing man 34 years ago who only gets better as he gets older.  We plan our life together and don’t make decisions (usually) until both of us feel a nudging from the Holy Spirit.

Living in the RV has enabled us to see and do some wonderful things over the last year that we never could have done with a house.  And if we don’t like the view or the neighbors or the neighborhood – we just hook up the truck and move!

We don’t know how long we will stay on the road – no one but God knows the future – but we are enjoying the journey and looking forward to more adventures in our second year of living in the RV.  One year down and (hopefully) many to go!