May 9, 2018.
Okay, so I finally did it! Or at least I hope when I hit the publish button it all comes together. One can only hope and pray. As I write this I am 58, knocking on 59. I am not afraid of numbers, and am proud to have made it to where I am. I would not like to go backwards or forwards, as I believe it is important to live in the moment. It was about 10 years from when the idea of embarking on a life of full time RVing entered my head until it actually came to fruition. And I don’t know how long it was from the first time I had an inkling to start a blog until today when it actually seems to be happening. I many times wonder why it takes me so long to get things done.
When I first bought my RV (his name is Hugo), I posted pictures on Facebook on some RV page as I was so excited to embark on this new journey with this new (to me) home on wheels. One of the shots was of the back, which has an airbrushed painting of wolves in snow. It even has the artist’s name, Craig McMahon. One of the ladies on the site gushed about the picture and said that the wolf was her spirit animal. Hmmm, that set me on a quest for my spirit animal. Did I have one? Do I believe in that stuff? I googled it and found this: In certain spiritual traditions or cultures, spirit animal refers to a spirit which helps guide or protect a person on a journey and whose characteristics that person shares or embodies. It is also metaphor, often humorous, for someone or something a person relates to or admires. So I started looking around me and tried to be open minded about this. I started noticing crows. I thought they meant a sign of death, but I googled it and they also meant change. That made sense since my new life was going to be full of change. So, being a bourbon drinker, I changed brands, from Evan Williams to Old Crow. I woke up with a headache and came to the realization that the crow must not be my spirit animal. I just noticed them because they were noisy birds.
So as I was reviewing my life up to this point, I started thinking about the turtle. Humans tend to think of turtles as very slow, remember the tortoise and the hare? But yet, they get to the finish line just fine (unless that line is across the street, and traffic is heavy but we won’t talk about that). So I am going to embrace the turtle as my spirit animal. They plod along, seem to get along well with others, and usually live pretty long lives. When I visited the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston a couple of months ago, I was mesmerized by the beautiful sea turtle in they had in their large tank. They named her Caretta because the loggerhead sea turtle’s official name is Caretta caretta. She was so smooth and graceful. I wish I had her moves. Turtles are always around water, and I like to be around water too. They get sluggish when it is cold, and so do I. I see them sunning themselves, and I love the warmth of the sun on me also. So the next time someone asks me why I haven’t gotten something done yet, I will just tell them I am channeling my spirit animal.
