A Year of {Vaga}Bonding

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Let me start at the beginning... because I lose track of who I've told about what we're doing and where we'll be in the next month or so. So those of you who are up to date, stay tuned for future updates. ;)

So... the beginning. Jamie is a mathematician with a BS from Chico State. I'm not sure what I am. Jamie wants to be a better mathematician. I'm not sure what I want to do. So our "faraway" future plans involve grad school, which would ideally start in Fall 2013, which is about a year from now, and which would effectively lock us into a five-year-plan (the thought of which gives me the willies). Bottom line: we had been given a "limbo" year, one that could be used one of two ways: safely and securely OR daringly and riskily...

Working in Paradise for another year wasn't all that appealing... I mean sure, it's Paradise, nothing to really complain about. We've got good jobs, family, friends, all that. But there was this nagging fear that if we stayed here another year, that year would breed into a FAR less lucrative five-year-plan (shudder) and beyond, involving permanent residency and eventual death... in Paradise. And while there is nothing wrong with being a lifetime Paradise resident, it would be nice to get out for a bit, while we could. The opportunity had arisen to do something, and we wanted to take advantage of it.

We had a few criteria for whatever we ended up doing:

1. It had to take us OUT of California, at least for part of the year,
2. It had to involve work or service of some sort, and
3. It had to be a short-term commitment (less than a year) so we could move on to grad school.

Some friends told us about this neat little self-sustained village-community-retreat-thing up in Washington. It seemed like a pretty neat place, and it met our criteria, so we started the process of applying. But as we dragged our feet and put off submitting applications and tried in vain to fight off growing doubt about the whole thing, we had this kind of crazy idea... and it seemed like a lot more fun than freezing our asses off through a Washington winter.

I don't remember what restaurant we were at when the idea was hatched, but I think we were eating breakfast (the most important meal of the day!), and I do remember how excited I was by the prospect... What if we just kind of wandered around for a year? I mean, wandered with a purpose, with our destinations centered around the people living in them. Like, what if we went around the country visiting family and friends, sleeping in their homes and eating their food in return for housework, babysitting, cooking, gardening, graphic design, math lessons, or using whatever other random skill we have to offer to help them. It would be a mutually beneficial arrangement... we would get to travel, they would get some extra help for a few days or a week, and we would all get to know each other in a way than no family reunion could ever hope to replicate... And between the two of us, we potentially had places to visit across the entire nation. It was fool-proof!

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The idea stuck, and even though Washington was still the official "Plan A," we kind of had to pursue this new idea further. At first we were a little unsure of how to proceed... how do you tell your extended family that you've decided to be homeless and that you want them to feed and house you (even with the incentive of free labor to lure them in)? We came to the conclusion that there was no harm in asking, so I wrote an e-mail explaining as best and as honestly as I could what our plan was to my family, some of which passed it along to more family. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and whether we liked it or not (we liked it very much, I might add),"Vaga-Bonding" was born.

Thus, the Washington village moved onto the list of "Things to Try Someday" to mingle with other items like "Spend a year with little to no contact with the outside world" and "Live in a State that gets 20 feet of snow over the winter," (I jest of course; a stay at Holden Village is something I actually would like to try someday) and we plunged giddily into making plans with family members. People actually thought it was a good idea! I wasn't going to question their enthusiasm, so I promptly started a special calendar for the trip, which I took great pleasure in filling with dates and places as the e-mails came flooding in.

Now fast forward from mid-July to the time of this post... we are booked from October 1st through the holidays, with more family members left to exploit--I mean!--entreat for the months to follow, and destinations along the entire length of California, and in Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, and New Hampshire. Jamie has already quit his job at Coffee's On, and I too will be unemployed as of September 12! Needless to say, we are very excited and so grateful to the family and friends who have made these plans possible! All that is left is to begin the journey (and a few other details, but those are boring. Well, telling PG&E that we no longer need their service will be kind of fun. And so will be not paying rent. Learning to drive Jamie's stick shift vehicle is one of the boring details that I do not look forward to).

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Anyway, this blog exists to document this unique adventure, and to try to harness some of the positive powers of the internet to keep in touch with those we are leaving and meeting along the way.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for future updates on our Year of Vaga-Bonding!