Before planning this journey a year seemed like a long time. It isn't. As the days and months fly by I have really come to realize what a short time we have here (on earth). There is so much that I want to do, so much I want to learn and so much I want to experience that I am honestly overwhelmed by the notion of life itself.

there have been many occasions where I wanted to implode into myself like a dying star from the workload. Knowing what I have to look forward to has really helped.

With 20 days to go and the rapid passing of time at the forefront of my awareness I find myself incredibly thankful that we purchased our tickets so many months ago. Without a date set in stone it would be far too easy to put things off for "just one more month" over and over and over again.

Wrapping the numerous outstanding projects with my business has been incredibly stressful. I am a very driven person but there have been many occasions where I wanted to implode into myself like a dying star from the workload. Knowing what I have to look forward to has really helped.

With our lives refocusing into an even longer view Tara and I have been talking about what we want to do when we return. We spent some time looking at land in North Carolina online for fun and talked a bit about what we'd do to save up for our next adventure. We'll have plenty of time to decide what comes next and I have no doubt the years we spend preparing (maybe to be homesteaders!) will fly by just as quickly as the rest.