Giving It All Up To Get It All

Welcome! Today is the first day of the "Celebrate Love" 

guest bloggers series. 

Today I would like to introduce you to our first blogger 

Elisabeth. 

You can visit her at her blogs

Coffice Girl and Adventures In A Hallway. 

Read her love story below.

Seven months ago, I did something crazy. I gave up my high-paying job, my house and the community I’d lived in for 12 years to move into a 300-square-foot RV with my husband, two dogs and a cat. Permanently.

Mike has been traveling nearly every week for his business as a technical trainer since we began dating.  Before the motorhome, he was gone during the week, back on the weekends, while I worked at my day job, took care of the household, and did freelance writing and taught painting classes on the side.  The lifestyle got old, so we decided to buy an RV and travel as a family to Mike’s gigs.

It sounds romantic: two lovebirds and their fur babies traveling the country, working side-by-side during the day and walking hand-in-hand at night. Despite that rosy image, it wasn’t easy for me to make the leap. Part of me felt like I was giving it all up. Giving up everything I’d worked for, my friends, my beloved community. 

Would it be worth it? Would Mike and I survive being together all the time when we’d hardly spent more than a week together for our entire relationship? And doing it all in a hallway on wheels??

It’s totally been worth it! We’ve had amazing adventures: visiting far-flung family and friends, seeing the gorgeous landscapes of this beautiful nation, waking up and falling asleep next to each other seven days a week. If that wasn’t enough, my freelance business as the Coffice Girl has been growing steadily since we hit the road.

The constant togetherness isn’t always stress-free, but we’ve found ways to ensure that we stay strong as a couple.

We don’t just love each other; we like each other and respect each other’s gifts and talents. That’s critical for success in any marriage but particularly one in such close quarters.

We talk a lot. We listen even more. Listening to each other and acknowledging what’s been said are essential for soothing hurt feelings, overcoming miscommunication, and arriving at a consensus.

We celebrate the journey, even the hard parts. When it’s five degrees out and the water pump breaks, we deal with it together – and then we thank each other. We try never to take the other person’s efforts for granted.

We may not live in a hallway on wheels forever, but making this change for my man and his career, however long it lasts, has given me more than I ever dreamed.

By Elisabeth Daniels(Coffice Girl)

Elisabeth Daniels is the Coffice Girl, a freelance creative who works in independently owned coffee shops and teahouses. Café + Office = Coffice! Her motto is: drink, work, and support local businesses. After nearly six years in state government service, first as a public information officer and Chair of the Fight Fraud Taskforce, and then as a deputy administrator, Elisabeth gave it all up to move full-time into an RV with her husband Mike and travel across the country for his work.  Elisabeth makes a living and a life as a writer, social media manager, blogger, adventurer, crafter and voice-over artist. 

        

Come back next Monday, February 10th 

for the next blogger of the series. 

You don't want to miss it.