A Cliche With A Happy Ending

Soon Kim and I will be embarking on two epic journeys in the same month.  Epic Journey number one; leaving the "housed" life and embracing the free life.  A life of minimalism, anti-materialism, and being able to grasp a few more grains of sand as time slips through our fingers.  We will live in her car, a Scion box type hatchback.  Kim has a job, one that she loves, so we'll still have money.  But even with money, rent here in SoCal makes it so you can't really get ahead unless you have a middle-class income.  We have solved that problem.  First, we pay off Kim's car by making 2 payments a month instead of one.  Not possible when paying rent, but very possible when NOT paying rent.  Then, we save for an RV.  So, in a nut-shell, the first journey is the journey to freedom.  (of course, logistics like bathing and looking good for work have already been taken care of)

Journey number 2 is basically an opening celebration of journey number one.  We will be taking an awesome road trip from Orange Co where we live in SoCal, east across the south to GA where I have family I haven't seen since 2003.  Then we head north along the Atlantic coast, where Kim has never been.  Eventually we'll see DC, New York and all the sites associated with this.  Then we head west, coming upon the last major stop of the trip, Yellowstone.  We hope to spend a week there.  Over one month on the road, taking our time, actually experiencing these places, sleeping in the car, breathing the air. Not rushing through as fast as possible trying to get from point a to point b, then staying the rest of the time in hotels.  

This brings me to the cliche sort of mentioned in the title. "If you really love something, set it free, if it doesn't come back, it was never yours to begin with."  This sounds cheesy and most folks know it.  But we have 2 pet lady rats named Cloudy and Lightning.  They live in a cage and also gets lots of free-roam time here in the apt.  I did not think it fair to keep them cooped in the car with Kim, me and Stormy (our cat), without first letting them have a chance at freedom.  I felt compelled to release them into the wild, to let them choose.  A little voice said "If you let them go, you'll never see them again."  And I knew I was ok with that.  Part of developing the walk of an enlightened person, is learning to let go of past attachments and not generating new attachments.  I love those little buggers but I know I can not truly own anything, much less another living being.  So I was excited to give them their chance at freedom, regardless of the outcome.  

There is a nice protected wetlands near us called Bolsa Chica. It's a wetlands that runs into the ocean, lots of rabbits and squirrels.  Since rats are rodents, and so are rabbits and squirrels, I figured they would get along well.  Kim and I walked a little of the path, deep into the wetlands, and let them loose into the brush.  I also placed a bag of food and attached their waterbottle to a nearby chain link fence.  We stayed and played with Cloudy for a while.  She kept coming back to play, and Lightning had run off exploring.  As we left, Kim cried and I felt a little sad too.  I knew we were doing the right thing though.

One week later, the day before Kim's birthday, we went back.  We brought some animal crackers, to help our odds of finding them again.  That little voice spoke in my head once more, "They have long since departed the area you dropped them off at.  It'll be like a needle in a haystack"  But I knew we had to try.  So we arrive at the spot, throw a few animal crackers at our feet, and begin calling their names.  Most people don't know this, but rats will come to their names, same way a dog will.  And guess what?  First Cloudy showed up, then Lightning!  A little worse for wear but otherwise healthy, we took it as a sign that they liked living in their cage with unlimited food, water and love.  Boy did they chow down when we got them home! Kim's birthday became that much better :)