The ever growing, seemingly never ending list. For awhile it seemed completely overwhelming. Too much stuff to do, and not enough time to do it in. Then I decided not to even try to chip away at it until I quit my job. Then I’d have plenty of time to check stuff off the list. Or so I thought. That’s when The List really started growing.

I keep track of The List with a program called wunderlist. I actually have two lists, one called “Van Stuff” and the other called “Trip Preparation.” Between the two there are currently 49 completed items and 24 incomplete items.

Here’s a sample of a few of the items on each list:

The stuff on the left is related to our vehicle. The stuff on the right is more or less necessary for any extended trip abroad, and it shows just how much work is involved to unplug our lives from the web of connections we build when we’re living in one place for a long time.

But painful though it is, severing those connections once in awhile can result in real sense of freedom – suddenly nothing is tying us to a specific location. We’re free to travel, to move to a new town or a new country, even try a new line of work.

We don’t know how this trip will turn out – whether we’ll still be on the road in two years, or whether we’ll get sick of living with each other 24/7 in a space the size of a walk-in closet. But either way we now have the freedom to try something new, something different, and see if it works out.