Sunday, January 30, 2011

FAQ-What Do Your Families Think About Your Lifestyle?

I've had more than one person ask me this and another question lately, so I thought I'd answer here too.  At least I don't think I've shared this FAQ here before. 

The short answer is: I don't know (and I don't care).  The long answer is, with my family: some of them have said they think it's very neat what we are doing and one of my sisters has expressed interest in doing it herself.  My Mom thinks it is very neat that we travel and I think she's shared she thinks it is great for the kids to get to see the world.

Nathan's family: I can say for sure that our travel buddies are supportive of us doing it.  The other brother/SIL haven't really said one way or the other what they think that I can recall.  If I had to guess, they probably think it's pretty cool we do this.  His Mom doesn't discuss the topic with us at all, so I can't say one way or the other what she thinks. 

Any extended family comments that have been made range from better you than me to I wish I could do it.  Same as pretty much anyone else we meet, in other words. 

Our grown children had more to say about it (to us at least) than anyone else.  Some of them were very upset because it meant we were moving away from them.  Some have said they think it's neat we did it because they know how much we've enjoyed it. Some think we're nuts.  Well, most of them think we're nuts for some reason or another.  Ambir told us this Fall when we got back to Florida that she didn't think we'd be content to stay in one place because we always have to be doing something new.  It surprised me that she sees us that way.  Yes, it really did surprise me.  I didn't know that about us.  Or maybe it's more that I didn't know we seem that way to other people.

For the most part, we really didn't ask people/family what they thought before we did it nor have we asked what they think about since we have done it.  It's our life, we are the only ones that can live it so we figure although people might have opinions, that is all they are.  The flip side to that is, we wouldn't think we had the ability to sway people's decisions with our opinions.  We want to live in freedom and we hope to extend that to others.

It's all good.

Living the life in beautiful Florida!  

2 comments:

Tonya @ The Traveling Praters said...

We've had plenty of comments-- from positive to VERY negative. I don't know why people feel the need to tell you their opinion when they find out you are a full time RVer but they shared...openly, and sometimes I wish they hadn't. I guess most of the concern was for the kids. They couldn't believe we would ever imagine a traveling lifestyle with kids in tow- and some expressed concern that we were really damaging them. Some of them made fun of us and called us gypsies. :) I have to admit that on a couple occasions I wondered if we did the right thing but in our case not traveling as a family would have meant that my husband was away working while we were at home waiting for him. Now that our full-time life is over I can wholeheartedly say that we made the right choice. It's also taken me a long time to feel settled in a house again- and I know my kids feel the same way. We were all blessed by our time together on the road, we met neat people and saw some amazing things. My husband and I would travel full-time again in a heartbeat. And I *think* my kids would too.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

You can only live your own life. And I'd just make your short answer or some version of it when we got asked this question. Like you, those who thought/think we're nuts for living like we do would think so anyway ;>)... keep on truckin'!!!