Rerouted
View from our campsite in Playa Santispac
Well hello my friends, how is everyone doing? Great?
Good. Glad to hear it.
There’s a lot of shit going down over here in Stark world. A lot of shit. And I’m still processing, so this may come out in a jumble.
The short story is, we’re back in the U.S. What’s that you say? You thought we were going to spend another month in Baja? You are not incorrect. But apparently the universe had something different to say about it. So we’re rolling with the changes and taking the lessons as they come. If there is an emotion for being simultaneously disappointed/hopeful/excited… then I’m that.
Before I get into the “what’s next,” I’ll give you the brief recap on “what’s happened.”
Back in La Paz, to reward ourselves for our Navy SEAL certification, we spent a perfect day on Tecolote Beach with the families that we stalked all the way from Driggs, Idaho down to Mexico. After initially meeting up with everyone in La Ventana at the beginning of our trip, we had all gone our separate ways and were traveling on different itineraries, so this was the first time we had a chance to reconnect in the same place.
Since some of us were starting to head north, and some of us decided to stay in La Ventana to start mid-life kite surfing careers (I see you Pieter and Clementine;), we knew this would be our last time all together for a while, so it felt incredibly special.
Because we wanted to spend a little more time with our friends Pieter and Clementine (and because I’m also considering a mid-life kiting career), we decided to head back down to La Ventana to hang for a few days. One, I needed to see them in all their windblown glory, and two, our children adore each other and wanted to spend more time together.
Let me take a moment here to describe just how unique and cool the kite surfing community is in La Ventana. All of these families from all over the world trek to Baja every winter and camp together for kite season. They set up shop with all of their rigs, everything from school buses to camper vans to fifth wheels to converted fire trucks to standard trailers/RV’s and they basically create their own functioning hive for half the year. In the morning, the hive is quietly bustling, the kids are all doing school work or running around playing. The adults are working on projects around their campsites, or just chatting with their neighbors. But as soon as the wind comes up, man, it is GAME ON. Kites start popping up all over the beach and soon the bay is a mosaic of colorful kites guiding their riders over the white capped water. They ride until they get tired or the wind dies down, whichever comes first. And then, one by one, as they float back towards the beach, whoever is standing around jumps up to assist in bringing the kites down. It was such a beautiful thing to experience, this gathering of passioned individuals, actively creating the life and community that brings them so much joy. It really is everything I feel like life should be. Filled with laughter, play, camaraderie, and the genuine connectedness of human beings. These kiters have it figured out, for sure. Such good stuff.
While in La Ventana, we happened to run into (for the second time in Baja) some friends from Las Vegas; Giles, who Brent works with and Liliya, who I happen to play tennis with. So crazy how small this world is sometimes.
This is the moment all of our existing plans went out the window.
As we were catching up, Giles happened to get a call from a friend in Las Vegas, warning him that the company was going to start calling pilots back early from their extended leave.
Great news for the company and the economy in general, bad news for us.
As a refresher, Brent’s company offered extended leave options to employees last year to help curb their massive revenue losses. You could take anywhere from 6 months to 5 years off with reduced pay and full benefits. We chose to take one year off, which would put us back to work starting September 1st, 2021. For me, the decision was easy, in fact I was pushing for the two year option. But for Brent, the financial implications were tough to swallow. The reduction in pay was significant, and required us to make some really major decisions (i.e. pulling the kids from the school they adore and selling the house), but in the end we viewed it as an opportunity for a year of amazing freedom and adventure that was worth all of the sacrifice. The company was trying desperately to avoid furloughing pilots, and although Brent’s seniority likely kept him safe from that fate, getting employees to voluntarily take leave would help protect the pilots at the bottom of the seniority list who were at risk. The plan worked and they got enough volunteers to avoid furloughs, and it felt amazing to be able to give back in a small way to our fellow flying families and a company that has been very good to us over the course of Brent’s career.
All of that to say, we thought we had until September.
We planned everything around September.
We had some sweet ass summer plans and time to get ourselves settled before SEPTEMBER.
And now he’s going back to work in JUNE.
Y’all. That’s soon.
I love this RV life, but I never imagined doing it by myself while Brent is off flying half the month. We barely keep things ticking with both of us on constant duty; the wheels would definitely fall of the bus (possibly quite literally) if I had to man the ship by myself.
So. Now what. No seriously, I’m asking, do you have any ideas?
Just kidding. We (kind of) have a plan. We’re going to Bend, Oregon!
Did you notice that I didn’t say “We’re moving to Bend.”?
I’m having trouble fully committing.
“Moving” feels major. I’m not sure I’m ready for that kind of statement.
I’m still processing the fact that we have three fewer months to figure out what the hell we’re doing, but Bend feels right. It’s always been on our list of dream places, and now that we have some practice putting our dreams into action, we feel ready to pull the trigger. We had planned to spend the summer there, feeling it out to see if it felt like the right place to settle before SEPTEMBER. We thought we would have time to give it a trial run, but such is life. Trial runs are overrated anyway, right? Screw it, let’s just jump right in!
The side note to this, and our major hesitation about going, is that Brent’s commute is going to SUCK.
Like, REALLY SUCK. So there’s that.
But he had 10 years of blissfully easy work life in Vegas, so it’s time to ebb and flow our way back to a different kind of work/life balance.
So, that’s the deal. After getting the news (which was officially confirmed a couple days ago), we cruised our way back north so we could head up to Bend to spend as much time as possible getting acquainted with the area as a family before Brent has to leave for training.
The other major side note to this, and probably the bigger thing that I’m dealing with emotionally (damnit here come the tears), is the ending of this incredibly special opportunity to have Brent with us all the time.
Anyone who knows us in real life knows that when he is working he is gone. A lot. And we miss him. And it’s hard.
This year has been such a gift. I can’t even put it into words. The growth and deeper connection we’ve found in our marriage. The extensive bonding he has done with the kids. The adventures and ups and downs we’ve experienced as a family… I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for it all. While the kids are young, we will never again have the opportunity for this length and level of togetherness, and I wasn’t ready for it to be cut short.
So I’m in a bit of mourning.
I’m in acceptance of what is happening, and we are rolling with it, and I know we will find our new normal and create a beautiful next phase of life… but right now I’m also sad.
I trust that we’re moving in the right direction and doing what is best for our future and for our family… so here we go! Let the next phase begin…
In Joy, Truth, & Love,
~lisa
Final pictures from Baja. What an adventure, wouldn’t change a minute of it, can’t wait to go back.
