Life Unexpected

It’s funny how things never turn out as planned. I should know this by now, yet I am still surprised by it.

The thing is, Deal took a huge pay cut in this position as caretaker,
which is why it was so important for me to find a full-time job. When I
landed that job at Company X, we thought this would be the time in our
life when we would make bank. We would build our savings back up (for
our next adventure), save up to buy a hostel of our own, take some
vacations … basically visions of sugar plums danced in our heads.

But, we all know about Company X and how that chapter turned out.

While I should be looking for my next career move, I have instead been
relishing in the experience of the hostel management, riding Deal’s
coattails. If you ask anyone who owns or manages within the hospitality
business, they’d say it is not a job, it’s a lifestyle. And it works
much better and is way more enjoyable with a partner.

The last month has been incredibly fulfilling and I couldn’t be happier
with my decision to leave my job and be more involved in the hostel.
Today was one of those crazy busy days where we worked many hours and
barely had a minute to breathe … and it was awesome. Tonight we have a
full house. I think there are maybe 3 bunks left out of 36. And it’s
people from all walks of life. There’s a huge college group renting the
upper lodge for a retreat. There’s a couple traveling to the area to
play music at a festival. There are a bunch of hikers (of course). We
meet a lot of awesome people every day and have a lot of stories to tell
(who smells a book idea???).

Just recently, we had a couple stay here all last week who hiked a huge
section of the AT. But this wasn’t just any couple. This couple followed
our blog last year while we were hiking and sent us a package of
goodies to one of our mail drops in Pennsylvania. They were total
strangers at that time to us. Well, fast forward to this summer and they
hiked through our place and we were able to bring it full circle and
offer a little bit of magic. When they wrapped up their hike, they came
back to the hostel and worked their butts off as volunteers helping us
with projects around the hostel. Strangers turned into friends. It
doesn’t get much better than that.

So, this will not be the time in our life where we make lots of money, like we planned (insert hearty laugh). Instead, this will be the time in our life where we both work a job we love, spend time together and just get by. Maybe I will get another full-time job in my field. Maybe I won’t. All I know is that for now, I wake up excited to start the day.

Oh, if anyone knows anyone who needs a house in Danville, let us know. Cause, you know, as if our financial situation couldn’t get any worse, our renter moved out this month!!!

***On a side note in my defense, just so you don’t think I’m totally mooching off my hard-working husband, I have been working. I’ve been working catering jobs, cleaning, doing shuttles, website development, writing a few freelance magazine articles … Tomorrow, I have the most important job of all. I am going to the REI garage sale while Deal cleans up after 30+ guests.