Saturday, September 20, 2014

Look at What We've Started

Our downsizing journey began with a lot more than just wanting to live with less.

My husband and I don't always have the same ideas. We're not the kind of couple that finishes each other's sentences (because, when we do, we're usually wrong. We did it once and I still remember that moment!). We think differently, we look at the world differently, we have distinctly different personalities and we don't always see eye-to-eye.

But one thing we did agree on, long before we got married, was what we wanted to do with our life together. And we both want to run a bed and breakfast. I thought, "Some day..." and he thought, "Why not now?" So, when we got engaged, we started looking for a suitable house.

All our talk about running our own business helped my husband explore the idea of running his own business as a rock and ice climbing guide. He's guided for over 7 years and really finds himself in the work. He loves the Adirondacks and he really wants to share the wildness of this wilderness that he loves SO much, we packed up and moved here.

So, last week, in the middle of our downsizing exercise and in the middle of packing for our move, we launched John Mackey Climbing (now Tamarack Mountain Guiding, Inc.). If you get a moment, check it out and let me know what you think.

Any new business is a labor of love. We love the Adirondacks and climbing so much that we gave up half our stuff, a third of our space, and all of our closets to make this work. This is where our downsizing vision began: as a means to a much more wonderful end.

I'm watching the clouds rush by in the gusting winds the weather forecasts accurately predicted. I saw the mountain tops shrouded all day long, but I still knew they were there. I could draw their peaks in the air for you if you asked. They're never gone for too long. They were here yesterday:

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and they'll be back tomorrow.