Just a little about us. We are the Lee Family and we live in Sparks, Nevada. The Hubs and I are originally from the same hometown and neighborhood in Northern California, so we have known each other since before we were even ten years old. Although we are NOT high school sweethearts, we share a common childhood experience and are traversing this life together along with our four teenage kids.
This past year, around Christmas of 2014, our family realized that it has been five years since our avus paterus (paternal grandfather-Papa Chuck) passed away. Chuck loved all holidays, we would even BBQ on Flag Day, and since his passing our celebrations quickly dwindled down to nothing, mostly us sitting around with no special fanfare reminiscing about holidays past. As a family, we realized how sad we had become, especially since excuses came easy for not even putting up the fake tree with lights already adorned!
However, the biggest shock came in January of this year when we learned that our maternus avus (Papa Tom) passed away suddenly from a heart attack. These men were young, 66 and 75 respectively, and passed away too soon, yet these events sparked a sense of urgency in me (Nicole). My pops, Tom, always encouraged me to explore the world around me and would become quite perplexed when I did not take the time to do just that.
Life cannot just be about working hard, paying the bills, retiring and dying. I am not reporting that these two men only did that; however their passing prompted me to realize that the members of my little family were missing out on experiences because, well, there really is no one reason, we just were. With a little posthumous prodding by the pops we have decided to do a little more than just existing this year, and hopefully we are changing the atmosphere in the family for the better, more adventurous. Therefore, I had handed the finances over to the Hubs (the spender of us two) for this year and we are going to see what happens.
Our experiences won’t always be together, some will but most won’t. There is a list and it grows always. Learning new musical instruments, hiking, fishing, exploring, learning new skills, practicing, animals, holidays and friends. In response to that we want to welcome you to the Lee family blog about our 2015 adventures as quasi fugitives. I wanted to create an atmosphere of adventures in my family this year and what better way to experience that then as an ‘on-the-go’ fugitive family.
Webster’s definition, but using the second definition, of Fugitive is this:
quick to disappear; fleeting.
adjective: fugitive
“he entertained a fugitive idea that Barbara needed him”
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Sononym: |
fleeting, transient, transitory, ephemeral, fading, momentary, short-lived, short, brief, passing, impermanent, here today and gone tomorrow; literary evanescent
“the fugitive nature of life” |
An excerpt from Wikipedia explains: “As a verbal metaphor and psychological concept, one might also be described as a ‘fugitive from oneself’. Finally, the literary sense of ‘fugitive’ includes the meaning of simply ‘fleeing’.’ In a sense, we are fleeing from the status quo of our family life.
I have named this year, “The year of the Fugitive.” That name came from the idea that I had from the show “Criminal Minds.” Those characters have a “Go” bag and they are ready to go at any time. I told my kids the same thing, that this year I wanted them to be ready to go at any time, so I had them put a one together for themselves. In the mean time, having four teenagers, sometimes that means that one or more cannot go on a particular trip. However, this experience is really about the whole family and the list even includes the exclusion of certain members at specific times, boys, girls, parents or spouse. I have made a list of some things that would be fun to do and we are adding weekly. We have made a vow to celebrate holidays and be more spontaneous, so there will also be trips in the middle of the night to places unknown. (I am an INFJ, so yes, I am planning to be spontaneous, just go with it.) It will be fun to see how this year shakes out.
Join us! If you would like to come alongside us, or add your own “Fugitive Summer” adventures, please use the hashtag: #fugitivesummer. See ya on the road!
#fugitivesummer 