TRUSTING THE MAGIC – HOW WE GOT HERE

 Hurricane Elsa ushered us out of Westport, MA on July 9, 2021, as we and our beloved camper van (named Serenity Rose the MotorOM) embarked on our maiden voyage to explore for Home. So far, the most common response to our story is….”Oh, Man..that is So Cool”.  Said with a dreamy look in the eye.  But “cool” was the farthest thing from our minds as this whole shenanigan started.  After spending the past 30 years lovingly creating homes for ourselves and others, in late May we found ourselves with…No Home. You could say it was a bit self-manifested,  but it was still total shock when we unexpectedly had 6 weeks to figure out some new digs and move.

We lived in Jamaica Plain, MA for nearly 30 years with her gorgeous community, walk-ability, groovy weirdness and abundant greenspace, though we’d been hankering for land and nature and open space for the past 5 years; exploring different communities but not finding a “click” yet.  Or maybe we were just too scared to leave our beloved community of 30 years and start over in a new place with new people in “the country” which seems potentially isolating after city-living.

We see ourselves in a place where we could create magical gardens, tend land and animals in community with others, maybe create a healing sanctuary where others could visit to unwind and re-set;  a place to hold creative, herbal & spiritual workshops, nature immersion.  Somewhere to share our gifts and skills with others, in nature but also in community.  You know, Shangri La.  But where??

Last August, on one of those sunny, blue-sky summer days I asked myself, “HOW could it be that we were still living in the city instead of harvesting our gardens full of vegetables, flowers, raspberries, and honey?  Maybe I was reading too much zen spiritual material – the ones that tell you “Jump! And the net will appear!”, but after a lengthy consultation with an old weeping cherry tree in the Arnold Arboretum, I got the message….”Sell the house now and let the process unfold”.  Meditation will do this to you.  That, or some new deviant covid variant had invaded my brain.  I took it as a sign when Dave took a big gulp and agreed…  .

Fast forward 6 months and our short-term housing became unexpectedly unavailable, sending us into a panic spin, feeling as vulnerable as a dog bellyup.  We looked at rentals and expensive slick airbnbs and wondered if we we’d ever find a great new home. Crisis generates creativity and unbeknownst to Diane, Dave was in the middle of reading Nomadland, so maybe this was a case of our telepathic marital ESP (we sometimes dream the same dreams on the same night which is as freaky as it sounds) because an image came to me of getting a camper van to explore and live from, basing at our good friends/family’s farm in Westport, MA. 

We floated the idea with Adriana and Phil Christianson– our extraordinarily generous family/friends, and they gave us two enthusiastic thumbs up.  We explored yurts, Airstreams, tiny homes and were led by synchronicity to LTV campers and so, one of their farm fields became our new home. Adriana and Phil pampered us like newly hatched chicks, as we readied ourselves to fly off in Serenity Rose - feeding us delicious meals, and opening their home and heart to us for the 3 weeks before takeoff.

 After the initial panic of wondering how two people actually live in 150 square feet harmoniously, we loaded up with no plan except to head south towards the NC Smokey Mountains.  And here’s where a whole boatload of Trusting the Magic has come in.

 We’re traveling by intuitive feel and by asking ourselves, people we meet and the land herself where she wants us to go next.  It sounds crazy – I know!  But traveling this way, despite being incredibly stressful when the answers don’t come fast and clear and we don’t know where we’re going the next day, or even sleeping for the night, is where the magic lies and has led us to people, places and lessons we’d never get to with “planning”.  Many of us traveled this way in our “youth” – backpacking, not having to plan everything out ahead of time.  So when and why did it start to feel scary to not have “a plan”?  To be OK with the unknown, letting things unfold organically to see where it leads. I’ve been inspired by Michael Singer’s book, “Surrender Experiment” which takes surrender to a whole new level. A great summer read!

I’m also taking Martín Prechtel’s advice from his marvelous new book “Rescuing the Light”… “Like wild horses, anything you chase after will always run away… Don’t chase after what you want.  You will spook them and they’ll always run faster than you can….”  So, we know the perfect place will come to us at the right time and we’re doing our best to playfully court the land to see where we might be called, and to be grateful that we get to take this journey!

 We’ve been staying at farms and wineries via Harvest Host , staying on gorgeous land and meeting inspiring people who have created beautiful organic farms and biodynamic wineries and who clearly love sharing their love of the land with others.  We’re visiting progressive small towns like Capon Bridge, Floyd, Saluda & Tryon with cool art and music scenes amidst beautiful land.  We visited intentional communities of different ilks.  And we learn something about ourselves and about this crazy life everywhere we go.  What we see above all else is that this world of ours is magnificently beautiful beyond words and that people are inherently loving, kind, helpful and incredibly creative, no matter what else is going on in the world. Here are some musings and pics from the first leg of the journey. We have no idea where specifically this will all lead, but we’re grateful for the journey, taking a leap of faith and Trusting the Magic!

 Thanks for listening!  Do you have a story of traveling without a plan and how it led to magical places, people or experiences?  Or maybe a spark of an idea of where we might explore next? Please share with us – we’d love to hear from you!