Toward the end of January I was on top of a hill outside of Yuma and noticed there were fields of palm trees almost as far as the eye could see. I asked a woman what these fields were. She told me they were Medjool Date trees. As we have come to learn Medjool Dates are a very big crop in Yuma. They harvest about 7500 acres of dates which yield 14 million pounds and generate about 8 million dollars in revenue. In celebration of this crop, Yuma holds a date festival every year where people sell crafts, baked goods and drinks made from this sweet fruit. So Colleen and I decided to go on a date to celebrate this date.
As we were enjoying the blues band that was playing. The first thought that came to my mind was how my brother Billy would love this band being fan of the blues. The second thought was how blessed we were to be here on this beautiful day. The weather back home is very cold and quite brutal. The winter months are particularly tough on Colleen. Her joints get very stiff and movement is even more of an issue during the cold winter months in Wisconsin. If we were home this winter, she would basically be shut inside. We are very grateful to be here where she does not have to worry about battling the temperatures and the snow.
As my mind continued to wander, I was thinking what took us so long to make this move? There are a number of factors really. Certain events had to happen in a particular sequence to make this possible. By 2011 we had worked ourselves into about $100,000 of credit card debt. It took us a lot of work to climb out from under this. After we started to get our financial house in order, we migrated to Madison, Wi from Milton, WI because it was no longer safe for Colleen to drive. After relocating is when my path to recovery for my alcoholism began. Eventually we were in a position to purchase our home in Madison. We loved that house and thought at the time this was going to be our forever home. Looking back on it now, it was perfect for us at that time in our life. As Colleen’s condition continued to progress, it was becoming apparent that Colleen’s job was becoming more challenging and it was time to retire. Along this timeline, it was also becoming clear that the layout of our house was not well suited for Colleen anymore. There was probably a year span that I battled in my head what our next move was to be. Of course anything worth thinking about is worth over thinking about in my mind. When I asked Colleen about moving she simply said “It’s only a house”. Thank God she was blessed with thoughts of reason. So the idea of moving was on the table, but where? It was not until August of 2018 did that answer come. When the idea of travel presented itself, it was like a light switch was suddenly turned on. In order for us to take the next steps we needed to take “Massive determined action” as Tony Robbins often says.
So about 5 1/2 months later here we sit at this place living in the moment the best we know how celebrating the Medjool Date.
In the following YouTube clip we touch on this as well as talk about my latest learning experience setting up our rig (talking about uncomfortable).
