It’s been a little over a year since I got this crazy idea of living full-time in an RV.
A lot has happened since that time…
- I stepped down from an organization that I absolutely loved after 30 years of service to our youth and our community.
- I started this blog and a new podcast series.
- We listed our house on the market in January.
- Purchased our RV in March.
- COVID-19 hit and the world stopped.
- Every line of revenue that I had lined up for this new adventure dried up because of the pandemic.
- We took our house off the market in late March.
- Faith was tested.
- Our love grew stronger.
- We trusted the Lord.
- We trusted the Lord’s timing.
- We relisted the house on May 8, 2020.
- Youkilis found his favorite spot in the RV while driving, right between his mommy and daddy.
- After just four showings, we got an offer on the house and accepted it on June 17, 2020.
- Everything is REAL now!
So to be a bit more specific, I’ll talk a little bit about each of those bullet points.
- I stepped down from an organization that I absolutely loved after 30 years of service to our youth and our community:
- Had you asked me two years ago where I’d be in 2020, I would have said, “Running the BIG Vision Foundation.” Had you asked me two years ago where I’d be in 20 years, I would have said, “Running the BIG Vision Foundation.” Had you asked me two years ago where I’d be when I died, I would have said, “Running the BIG Vision Foundation.” It was my life. With the exception of the politics that we had to deal with, I loved every second of it. Then in early 2019, I heard God telling me that it was time to move on. I didn’t want to hear it at first. I didn’t understand, but he kept telling me. I questioned whether I wasted the last 30 years of my life. Did the work matter enough for someone to carry it on? He kept tugging, I kept resisting. I told my wife that we should sell everything and live in an RV. I knew this would be my out. She would never agree to this idea. I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, she didn’t jump in both feet, but she did jump in. That’s when I knew that God had something special lined up for us. I had no idea what it was, but it was going to be special. We had to trust His direction. We had to have Faith over Fear.
- I started this blog and a new podcast series:
- I had been podcasting since 2013 on the “Stepping Up to the Plate” podcast series for BIG Vision Foundation. I really enjoyed doing it and we actually created quite an impressive following. I wanted to document our new journey. I was following in my mother’s footsteps, so the title had to be “The Journey of My Mother’s Son.” We wanted to help tell the stories of the many little people that were doing many little things to make the world a better place, so we added a subtitle of “Many Little People in Many Little Places”. The subtitle was inspired by my favorite musical artist, Michael Franti and the opening lyrics of his song “Gloria,” which state, “When many little people in many little places, do many little things, then the whole world changes.” The original concept was to tell the stories of those people that we met on our journey, both old and new, who were doing these great things to make the world a better place. I always did my podcasts in person, either by recording them on my phone or sitting across from someone at a desk with a microphone. When COVID-19 hit, I had to shift. I was able to take advantage of Zoom technology and actually expand my guest list. I was now adding to my list of people to meet in person in addition to those that we’d meet randomly. I was conducting podcasts with people in California, Utah, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Canada to name a few.
- We listed our house on the market in January:
- We figured that we weren’t in a hurry, so let’s get the house on the market and see what happens. We had time, figured that we’d be on the road in May.
- Purchased our RV in March;
- This was a leap of faith. The house hadn’t sold, but we had an opportunity to save a bunch of money on a leftover 2019 model. We were a little scared to take on another payment while still paying our house mortgage, but the Lord was calling to have faith and trust in Him, so we took the plunge.
- COVID-19 hit and the world stopped;
- Literally the day that we purchased our RV, the world as we knew it was coming to a screeching halt. The governor of PA was ordering businesses to shut down and people to stay at home. Real estate was shutting down, the world was filled with uncertainty, and we just added another expense to our lives.
- Every line of revenue that I had lined up for this new adventure dried up because of the pandemic;
- As we started stepping into this new journey, I had several youth sports organizations interested in bringing me on as a consultant, I was in training to do coaching workshops for Positive Coaching Alliance, had a publishing company interested in the second version of my book, “The Beauty of a Diamond, through the eyes of a Coach,” in which I had just added 10 new chapters to, and I started putting feelers out to do some speaking engagements.
- In the midst of the pandemic, youth sports came to halt, no one needed a consultant in an industry that had such an uncertain future.
- I was still training for Positive Coaching Alliance, but live workshops were no longer being conducted.
- Publishing projects were halted.
- No one needed speakers because large gatherings were on hold indefinitely.
- The only things that I was able to do during the pandemic were this blog and my podcasts. Neither of which were actual revenue streams. Although, it did allow me to reinvent my podcasts by using Zoom and truly increasing my potential guest list exponentially.
- We took our house off the market in late March;
- Real estate was halted. No showings were permitted, we pulled the house off of the market. We had an extra bill every month, but revenue was uncertain.
- Faith was tested;
- Our faith was being tested. We just took on a new payment. We felt that we were following the Lord’s will, but why would everything be unraveling if we were doing His will? We had to have faith over fear. He was still providing for us. Sandy was still working and even though things were difficult, He would provide for us at the time in which we needed it most.
- Our love grew stronger;
- Spending so much time together was truly a blessing. After 30 years you would think that at times your love for one another can grow stale. Ours never has. During the pandemic, our love grew even stronger. We celebrated Sandy’s birthday with just the two of us and ended our at home date night dancing to our wedding song and several others.
- We trusted the Lord;
- As our faith was tested, our trust in the Lord grew stronger. We knew that even in our darkest and most uncertain moments that the Lord was in control. We trusted Him more and more every day.
- We trusted the Lord’s timing;
- As I mentioned above, we figured that by May, our house would be sold and we’d be on the road telling the stories of those that we’d meet along the way. That wasn’t happening, so we had to trust the Lord’s timing. He was in control, and He needed us to stay in Pennsylvania for a little while longer. Trusting God’s timing has always been one of my shortcomings, but throughout this time, I was getting better with it. This was a test to truly let go and trust Him and His timing. We did.
- We relisted the house on May 8, 2020;
- Right about the time that we figured we’d be settling on our house, we were just putting it back on the market. Our county was still in the Red Phase of the governor’s stay at home order, so real estate was still shut down, but we put it back on the market with some virtual tours so that when real estate opened back up, we would be ready to go.
- Youkilis found his favorite spot in the RV while driving, right between his mommy and daddy;
- The state opened up campgrounds, so we were able to take the RV out for some drives in order to see how Youkilis would respond to our new house. At first we thought that he and Sandy would be riding in the back while I drove. What we quickly found out was that he preferred to be sitting right up front in between his mommy and me. Almost as if to say, “Everything in the world is right when the three of us are together.”
- After just four showings, we got an offer on the house and accepted it on June 17, 2020.
- Once our county went from the Red Phase into the Yellow Phase on June 5th, it now allowed for in person showings for real estate. From June 5th though the 12th, we had four showings. When we first announced our plans to our friends and family, so many people had asked us where we’d be going on our journey. We always responded by telling them that the beauty of our plan was that there was no plan. The only thing that we had set in stone for 2020 was that we were planning to be in Sulphur, LA from June 16th through June 19th to help with the Jennie Finch World Series. Well, as with just about everything else in 2020, those plans changed due to the pandemic. So instead of being in Louisiana on June 17th for the opening ceremonies of the Jennie Finch World Series, we were still in Pennsylvania and low and behold, we received an offer on our house on that day, which we accepted.
- Everything is REAL now!
- Now that we have an agreement of sale on the house, things are real. We have so much to do before our settlement on August 31st. We’re finding out from our kids what they want from our house and everything else is getting sold through yard sales or on Facebook Marketplace. There is excitement and fear at the same time. Let’s face it, with every big decision, with every leap of faith, with every act of courage, there is fear. Overcoming that fear is what allows us to step into new and great things. It is once again that incredible act of having faith over fear. Every decision that we make is going to have an element of fear within it. However, if there is one thing that I’ve learned throughout my life it is that you simply can’t be brave and courageous without fear.
- As we started stepping into this new journey, I had several youth sports organizations interested in bringing me on as a consultant, I was in training to do coaching workshops for Positive Coaching Alliance, had a publishing company interested in the second version of my book, “The Beauty of a Diamond, through the eyes of a Coach,” in which I had just added 10 new chapters to, and I started putting feelers out to do some speaking engagements.
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