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The Secret Talks With My Sir
Weekends are sacred around here, as both Todd and I are working really hard right now so we can push towards our next set of dreams. We usually have at least one or two deep-dive conversations each weekend, this is when we get more clear and focused on where we are headed.
Today’s deep dive came over breakfast in the city, and we got to place one more stake in the dream plan. Many of our friends are totally baffled as to what we have done with our life over the past few years. We used to live in a beautiful home in the suburbs with over 4500 square feet, multiple cars and lots of bells and whistles. It was a wonderful place to build dreams together. In those walls, we began the planning for the journey we are in today. But we gave it all up. We got rid of cars, sold so many of our things, sold our home with almost all the furniture in it and set our sights for a small apartment to rent in downtown Indianapolis.
Finding Freedom
Our freedom (something Todd and I hold incredibly close to the heart) came with giving up a lifestyle that felt very much like a ball and chain. We are no longer a slave to the upkeep of our home, the lawn, and flowerbeds, the critters that got into the attic, the expensive maintenance… and not to mention the property taxes that came with it. Finding freedom came in about 800 square feet in a loft style apartment downtown.
Since then we have moved again… and now occupy a 760-square foot apartment one block off the circle of downtown Indianapolis. We rarely drive anywhere and only have one car (and a motorcycle that is currently being worked on) and save heaps of cash by walking everywhere. There is so much energy living downtown; this was something we were missing living in the burbs.
The Talk
In our morning conversation, we talked about what life is going to look like in the coming years. We purchased a boat last Summer in Chicago. This past Fall we moved it down to Southern Mississippi, and it will soon be in the Panhandle where it will stay for the foreseeable years. If you want to follow that part of our journey you can visit us a Salt and Siren. We will use that area as our home base and travel the Gulf and Florida via boat. Our boat, will one day, be our permanent home. But as we discovered this morning… we have even bigger plans. We are beginning our journey of moving all of our work online. I am already living this way as a writer and media maven. Todd is still working as an engineer full-full time. Like 16 hour days full time. So we are ready to cut the lines just yet, but we do know that we have a lot to see.
We aren’t much for vacations, but we are travelers, and we are now plotting out where we are going to spend our tourist visa times. Chances are, the first place we will exercise this is in Venice, Italy. He and I fell in love with this city because it’s just so damn inspiring. We threw out ideas like Barcelona, Switzerland, Bali and plenty of other places where we could live for a few months at a time until the visa expires.
With only a boat back home to pay marina fees to… kiddos that we will need to return home to catch up with or take with, freedom only begins to tell our story. We know, that in order to “go big” we have to “get small.” The Only anchor we want in our lives, is the one that is on our boat.
What The Future Holds
In about a year, our boat will be paid off. The car will be close thereafter, and other than students loans for our daughter, we will be debt free. Our minimalist approach to life is giving us the power to pursue the wildest of dreams. A million things will change between now and when this dream arrives, but we have learned that if you don’t have a target, you have no shot at hitting it. And that is a peek behind just one of the conversations that go down in our cramp about finding freedom.
What about you, what kind of dreams do you talk to your lover about? Comment and let us know because inspiration can’t continue unless you’re willing to share the things closest to your heart.
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