Full Circle

In the early morning On Wednesday May 16th Lynne Braden past away.
She died peacefully in her sleep, after battling Cancer for the 2nd time.
Lynne will be remembered for courageously fighting her battle to the End.
Her passion for life, friends, family and travel can be carried on by all of us
By continuing to live like she did.
Her big smile, courage and loving heart is what I’ll take with me as I continue
My journey in life.
If you see the View on the road somewhere in the near future honk and wave to me as I will be navigating It on a farewell journey to spread her ashes to all her favorite places that she asked
To be and to start a new journey in my life.

Lynne’s brother Randy Braden






Full circles on:
- this blog
- full-time RVing
- Bosque del Apache
- home 617 Carlsbad
- friends
- family
- Grandy's bed
- finding God
- religion / the Bible
- my life's purpose on Earth
- transition from secular to spiritual (from life on Earth to life in eternity)

• Back in mom’s bedroom at old family house
• Next post will likely be my memorial.  Comments will be turned off and blog archived.
• Cindy’s comments on showing how to die gracefully
• Death is so often avoided and looked at with so much dread—
• I believe God has brought be home (literally and figuratively) 
• Cancer has given me the freedom of time to enrich my end of life with so many wonderful conversations and re-connections.  Never would have had this opportunity if a plane crash or heart attack had taken me.
• So, do not mourn my death when it comes.  Remember me (as the Coco movie says).  That will keep my spirit living on.  Remember my story— don’t wait too long to start living your dreams.
• Do I have regrets?  Perhaps only a few— that I didn’t give back sooner in my life.  Most of my life was self-centered and filled with consuming to my own wants/desires.  It left a huge hole that took years to figure out how to fill.  For me, that hole was finally filled by giving to others— financially and via my volunteering time or selfless acts of kindness and friendship.  I may have sacrificed a higher-paying career by not doing “whatever it takes” and walking over whoever I needed to get ahead, but in the end,  are time here on earth is only marked by the legacy we leave.  Not the power/political/financial gains we made.

Full-Circle

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3 years ago, I took a walk to find myself...

The past couple of months I’ve realized that many circles in my life are now completing.

Can’t explain the unexplainable, but so many things have led me back to this place...to home.

A physical residence that I’ve known since 1976,

A place where old friends have returned to reunite with me,

A place where I have met new connections that share uncanny things that cannot be passed off as mere coincidence (Melissa & my grandfather’s sermon bed)

God leading me home for a reason (not to stay in Colorado)

It is right to be here now.

My future is unknown, but my fate (and faith) is certain.

I wish I could live another few decades to share all the lessons I’ve learned these past few years of leading a purpose-driven life (not letting others drive it for me), but all I can do now is hope that some of my musings on this blog have made a difference in your lives, pushed you beyond your comfort zone to take control over your life and live the life of your dreams.  To discover true fulfillment by emptying yourselves of pettiness, shallowness, and worthless physical possessions for a deeper connection to your fellow humans/animals, our earth, God, and the amazing reward of giving in all the ways that you can.

Be the light.  When told to act divisive, seek unity with one another.  Overcome hatred, ignorance, and power grabs.  Be humble.  Find and live with grace and honor.    In the end, it is the only legacy we each can leave.

I hope I’ve made the earth a little more sustainable for future generations.

I hope I’ve left a legacy (although baron of fame, fortune, or even a tombstone— something that will be left as a lasting impression to those who knew me here or in-person to continue for generations.

I’m not ready to go, and yet, the circle is completing for me now, so I must obey it and go on to the next world.   Michell quote.

My final post here (my obituary) will be published after I’m gone.  Comments will be turned off to preserve the sanity of my surviving family members.

I thank you all for following this journey with me.  You’ve enriched my life as much as I hope I’ve helped yours.

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Quotes from Dorrin:

Though my soul may set in darkness,

It shall rise in perfect light

I have loved the stars too truly

To be fearful of the night    

                                                   ~Sarah Williams

I framed a quote of Edgar Mitchell and hung it on my office wall in 1990.  It still hangs in the waiting room for all to see.  It says:  

"There are no unnatural or supernatural phenomenon, only very large gaps in our knowledge of what is natural... we should strive to fill those gaps of ignorance."

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Chris Leeser’s quotes on the walls of BdA Volunteer Lounge:

Be Kind

Work Hard

Stay Humble

Smile Often

Live Simply

Love Deeply

be thankful always

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All good things are wild and free

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You make a living by what you get. You leave a legacy by what you give.

— Winston Churchill ?

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Rather than seek power in being somebody,

seek truth in being nobody,

Because power will emerge from God’s truth.

Life Turns to a New Direction

This is a very hard post to write.  Three weeks ago, my life changed in an instant.  No real warning, no time to prepare, no time to do anything but focus on the new firehose of reality that was now rapidly propelling me in a totally new direction.

I know lots of travels and photos have transpired between my last blog post (my summer volunteer ranger gig at Bryce Canyon National Park last summer) and now.  I hope to fill those gaps with backdated posts in the coming weeks as I get the time/energy.  

But this post may very well end up being my last, chronologically speaking.

What a Year in the Rear-View Mirror!

This week I celebrated one year as a full-time RVer—my 1st Full-TimeRVersary!   It seems like a lifetime ago that Millie and I were pulling the Winnie out of my empty house’s driveway for the very last time. Has it really just been one single year?

It’s no exaggeration to say that this has been the most monumental year of my life.  The steady, predictably flat road my life had been following for the past few decades decidedly met some big curves, peaks, and valleys this year.  Life (both the good and the bad) got amplified….loudly. 

I set off from Chicago last August with a loose plan to spend the year out West leisurely touring from Baja to the Canadian Rockies.   I would never have predicted spending almost half of the year right back here in Chicago where I began. 

But still, my first year racked up a respectable 7,000 miles to the bottom of Baja and back—not too shabby! 

So what things have I learned from this 1-year roller coaster ride?  What 5 pearls of wisdom can I pass on to next year’s crop of full-timers?

A Very Different Memorial Day

This Monday in May honors all the brave American Armed Forces men and women who sacrificed their lives to provide the freedoms we currently enjoy.  A good day to also share my visit to a very thought-provoking military national landmark in central New Mexico this past April.

I began the morning of April 4th at around 5:30 a.m. in the pitch black darkness before sunrise.  It was time to witness another burst of orange in the sky-- a lunar eclipse (a.k.a. “blood moon”).

While still somewhat brisk, this New Mexico morning was not as nearly cold as photographing the eclipse a year ago from my snowy backyard in Chicago in the middle of the night!  With that “astro-geek” mission accomplished, I returned to the RV for breakfast and to prepare for the real event of the day—a visit to the Trinity Site.

Windy City Whirlwind

After a week-long 1,500-mile trip from New Mexico, and a terrific “welcome home” dinner with family, I had a nice few days of rest here at my favorite Chicagoland campground, Burnidge Forest Preserve. The weekend concluded with a sunset poking beneath these dramatic springtime Midwest storm clouds.

Paradise Interrupted

I had intended to now start posting about my wonderful time volunteering at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.  To share all the amazing wildlife I’ve been seeing and learning about, and share stories about all the wonderful people I’ve met here in New Mexico’s Land of Enchantment (from Refuge staff and volunteers, to visitors and local townspeople). 

Most importantly, to share how fulfilled and profoundly “balanced” the call to nature and wildlife volunteer service has made me feel.  Infinitely better than the increasing guilt and emptiness I’d been feeling of trying to fit into the rather self-indulgent, self-absorbed “bucket-list tourist” mold of some other retired full-time RVers-- all candy!  all the time!

But the road beyond Candyland, it appears, is not always smooth and effortless—it can sometimes be one heck of an off-road, rock-crawling adventure.  Last week, my life veered off into one of these new and very unexpected detours.  Time to hold on to the handle bars for quite a ride!

Making This Year Meaningful

I know my northern friends are suffering frigid winter temperatures right now and dearly waiting for more travel stories and pictures from warm and sunny Baja.  I promise to post more of those soon, but today, as my first post of 2015, I need to share some thoughts from my heart.

Back in September, when I learned that Millie’s cancer had returned, I vowed to make whatever remaining months or years Millie might have as enjoyable as I could make them.  Finding her great, warm places to swim was (and will continue to be) a top priority, like this gorgeous beach (Playa Santispac) that we camped at recently in Baja.

2014 was a transformational and completely mind-bending year for me—my first full year of being intentionally jobless and the year I sold almost all of my possessions to live in a 130 square foot rolling home.  Friends and blog readers have often commented “you’re living the life others only ever dream about”  and it is the honest truth that I never go through a day without at least a brief feeling of gratitude for the incredible freedom and blessed life that I currently live.   But every day is not picture-perfect postcard.