Our party to reveal the new and improved Merlin and to say goodbye to a bunch of friends was this past Saturday. We had it at a great tasting room in my hometown (Santa Clarita) and were able to park Merlin in the parking lot for tours (along with the Smart car who we are now calling Archimedes [thanks to Nels and Brian/Doof]).
The party was a lot of fun – but as things like this go, I didn’t get to spend enough time with each person, so I was a bit bummed. It was really great though to see everyone and show-off all of our hard work in Merlin. Merlin was very well received and we got SO MUCH support from everyone (even strangers in the brewery) about our upcoming adventure. Taking this leap and going down the road less traveled (literally and figuratively) is a bit scary – but it’s so awesome to hear such encouraging words from almost every person we talk to about this trip! Thanks EVERYONE 🙂 I think my favorite quote of the day was from our dear-dear friend Keith in response to our decision to take this trip and live in Merlin, “Seeing all of this makes me rethink every single decision I’ve ever made in my entire life.”
With all the hustle and bustle to move out of our apartment, sell almost everything we own, and move into an RV – I’ve had little time to really think about the leaving part of this whole deal. I mean obviously that’s the point – leave this current life and start something new, but leaving all my friends here is really going to be brutal. It hit me Sunday night and this realization left me in the middle of our living room crying… I don’t have a big family (on my side anyway – thankfully I got a great bunch when I married Bryan!), so my friends are like family and I love each of them immensely! I’ll miss them dearly – but know that our bonds are strong and distance shouldn’t hurt the relationships. Plus – I really hope folks visit us out on the road!! (hint hint hint).
Here’s a video tour of Merlin: https://youtu.be/4B7wt6HkjPo For some reason I sound out of breath – it was really hot and I was super anxious about the party, so that’s my only excuse. Also, it’s a bit dark – so I apologize in advance.
To all our friends (old and new) – we love you very much and can’t wait to see you again (whenever that may be)!
