Natasha Fondren

Sometimes boring is fun. All I do is work and workout, lately, and I’m so happy. Almost every day, I wake up and think how lucky I am.

It could be the lizards. Reptiles are SO cool. I lived thirty-some years of my life without seeing these cute little critters dart around the ground, and they’re SUCH a kick.

I mean, LOOK AT THAT BELLY! Doesn’t it just BEG to be tickled?! Don’t you want to just take your finger and go, “Coochi-coochi-cooooooooo!” Hah!

It sort of blows my mind when I look around. I guess when you live in one environment for so long, to suddenly live in a new, completely different environment is a bit surreal. I mean… cacti?! How weird is that? There’s this one cactus in the RV Resort’s garden called an “Old Man Cactus,” and it has all this white, furry hair. It’s fascinating.

Doesn’t just looking at it make you want to laugh? It DOES look like an old man!!! Or wasn’t there a TV character, with a bunch of hair, called “It”? Or something like that? This cactus is an Old-Man-It!

Maybe it’s the sun. After living in a place that only gets sun ninety-odd days a year, getting sun over three hundred days a year is pretty fantastic.

My one neighbor wanted to stick a little solar light in the ground, and he had to use a DRILL. In the ground! ROFL! I wish I’d seen that!

My life has changed so much in the last year and a half. I’ve changed careers, built a new business… I never would’ve imagined in a million years that I’d be where I am today, doing what I’m doing today.

I just had to thank my lucky stars.

What about you? What are your lucky stars?

Working one job rocks. Before, there was always something else needing to be done. If I had a day off from one job, it was to work the other. I generally took a complete day off once every two or three months, and sometimes managed a few days in a row during Christmas, but mostly I worked every day, 12-16 hours. If I took even half a day off, I’d feel guilty because there was a huge list of to-dos just glaring at me.

Now?

I get up. I go to my computer. I usually have one or two tasks and that’s it. Granted, the one task might be write 5,000 words or finish the edits on an essay, but when I’m done?

I’m done. And I’m usually done between 3 and 6.

I get to take a walk. I get to sit around a campfire with my best friend, her husband, and my niece. Cook a real dinner. I get to enjoy a little life. I get to talk to people “live.”

I get to read more!

And when I go somewhere? It’s okay if I get lost (three times). I don’t bother looking at my map, because if it takes me an extra hour to get there, no big deal. I just enjoy the drive.

Another bonus? I have no need to “escape” home in order to write. I can work at home! Granted, home is in a camper that’s all windows, so I feel like I’m outside. Granted, I’ve got a pretty cornfield on one side, a green, grassy field on another, and a creek running beside me. Fresh air and a clean breeze are in ample supply.

So what do you do when you’re done for the day?