While in our own minds, our reasons for taking some time off to do some soul searching are well grounded, it seems as though it's hard for others to grasp the "why". Maybe some of the reasons are obvious, but others perhaps less so. Why are we leaving the refuge of a secure job, a comfortable home with a fantastic view, a safe environment for our kids with beautiful forests right outside our door, and much more? We have everything most people would be happy with, except for the one thing that we want most. At the very core, lie our values. We want to be understood, and accepted for our beliefs, not looked upon as "outsiders" because we follow a different path. Sure, we miss the mountains, granite spires, alpine meadows, sandy beaches, sunshines, but when it comes down to the day to day things, it's about what we eat for breakfast, what our kids engage in, what toys they play with, what books the read. While we don't aspire to be "normal", we want to be appreciated for our choices and find an environment where our values and decisions are reinforced. We want to be able to exchange ideas without having to worry about stepping on toes. Somewhere out there is a community that we belong to, people that share our ideas and live the same dreams. Our journey is about finding these people and places and being inspired by them. Maye, in the end the journey will lead us back to Norway at the end of the year. Often the things we are looking for are found right where we are, but we still need to see them from another perspective.
Beautiful landscapes, enjoying the agriculture diversity and of course family are also a big part of the reasons for our journey to California and beyond. Spending time with cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, skiing fresh snow, climbing clean white granite, running along empty beaches, communing and renewing in energy filled places. In the bigger picture a year is not a long time, but let's hope it's enough to at least revitalize and empower us to follow our own path.