James Veronica - Going Gypsy : One Couples Adventure from Empty Nest to No Nest at All

One Couples Adventure from Empty
Nest to No Nest at All

David and Veronica James

Skyhorse Publishing

Advance Praise for Going Gypsy

Any parents who have gotten through the launching stage of life with their sense of adventure (and humor) intact deserve our attention. They got mine! If I could be on the road againand I guess we really all canthis is how Id do it. An empty nest just means the kids have learned to fly. How nice to know the parents can too!Lenore Skenazy, author of the book and blog Free-Range Kids

Its quite a talent to turn a midlife journey into compelling and amusing reading, and the authors of Going Gypsy clearly have that talent. There are as many smiles as miles in this unique travel memoir told in the voices of both halves of a newly nest-emptied couple. Veronica, especially, shares her internal struggle with genuine insightafter all, shes been a very involved mother of three kids. Can a couple really just sell the nest and take off in an RV with hardly any plans? Seems so, and we lucky readers vicariously get to enjoy it all with them.Susan K. Perry, creativity blogger at PsychologyToday.com and author of Writing in Flow, Loving in Flow, and the empty-nest novel Kylies Heel

Warm, funny, clever, and inspiringmakes you see the fun in being empty-nested, whether you take to the road like David and Veronica or stay at home and reinvent your life with the sense of adventure they found on their journey.Linda F. Burghardt, PhD, author of The Happy Empty Nest

A thoroughly charming account of a romp across America and beyond by childhood sweethearts who discover life without children, rediscover the joy of thirty years together, and learn firsthand the magic of living with eyes wide open to the wonders of a new and independent life.Victoria Zackheim, editor of Faith: Essays by Believers, Agnostics, and Atheists

As soon as I read the dedication I was in, and the rest did not disappoint. I found myself chuckling at every turn. Loved the writing style as well.Rayya Elias, author of Harley Loco

Copyright 2015 by David and Veronica James

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

James, David, 1959

Going gypsy : one couples adventure from empty nest to no nest at all / David and Veronica James.

pages cm

Summary: Ditching the minivan for an RV, one couple embarked on a journey to prove that an empty nest doesnt have to be a syndrome Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-62914-735-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. James, David, 1959- 2. James, Veronica, 1963- 3. Empty nestersTravelUnited States. 4. Recreational vehicle livingUnited States. 5. TravelersUnited StatesBiography. 6. Parent and adult childUnited States. I. James, Veronica, 1963- II. Title.

E169.Z83J355 2015

910.92dc23

[B]
2014014146

Cover design by Danielle Ceccolini
Cover photo credit Nick Coleman

ISBN: 978-1-62914-735-2
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62914-965-3

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to our beautiful children, affectionately known as The Piglet, Decibel, and The Boyour constant providers of entertainment, absurdity, exhaustion, energy, joy, jocularity, and love.

Table of Contents

Everything in this book actually happened. We do tend to remember, and therefore describe, some things more colorfully than others. Many of the names have been changed because we give ridiculous names to most everybody and everything in real life, so why stop here? The chronological order of a few events has been switched around a bit as well, only because we thought it would give the story a better flow.

Before there were late night crying babies, there was us.
Before there were 2 AM feedings, there was us.
Before there were dirty diaper changes, there was us.
Before there were drool-stained bibs, there was us.
Before there were kiss-it-and-make-it-better skinned knees, there was us.
Before there were school bus stop good-byes, there was us.
Before there were dance classes, there was us.
Before there were Little League games, there was us.
Before there were after-school minivan marathons, there was us.
Before there were junior high school crying jags, there was us.
Before there were prom dresses, there was us.
Before there were nervous-waiting-up-for-them-to-get-home late nights, there was us.
Before there were tuition bills, there was us.
Before there were graduations, there was us.

Now, there is us again.

When a twenty-two-year-old beanpole bass player with four years on the road under his belt, and all of the happy hedonism that goes along with that, meets an innocent eighteen-year-old Valley Girl who sneaked into a bar, the ensuing romance is likely to have a shelf life of exactly one night. But somehow that didnt happen.

Even with the eagle-eyed clarity of hindsight, we cant pinpoint the exact reason. It could be that we were all Shakespearean star-crossed. Could be we were both ready for a big change in our lives and just happened to collide. Could be we were just too dumb to know the odds; we certainly didnt set out to defy them.

We are inclined to believe a fourth choiceall of the above. The one-night stand was going on in the next room with the roommate and the keyboard player while we fell into friendship instead of fake, temporary love.

But the road beckoned, and the band had to be back in Nashville, so that was that. Just two ships passing in the night. No one would ever know what might have been.

But that wasnt that. Through the magic of pen, paper, envelopes, and stamps, they kept in touch. The Beanpole wrote to his new blue-eyed beach baby friend because something told him that couldnt be that. A voice was whispering in her ear too, so The Valley Girl wrote back. Before long, an old-fashioned, long-distance romance developed, almost entirely through the US mail. She says she fell in love through those letters. The Beanpole was already there when he started writing.

A few months later, fateand a good bit of specific action seeking a band working on the West Coastbrought The Beanpole back to California for a face-to-face reunion. With this open-ended employment in the Golden State, young love had time to take its course.

Our story took a less fairy talelike turn from there. The gig fell apart. What followed was a two thousand mile trek back to Music City in a $200 land barge named The Sharkmobile that had no reverse and no air conditioning, then a brief cohabitation and a We ought to get married, Okay, engagement. The next thing we knew, we were in the middle of a folding chairbedecked wedding in a tiny, windowless, tile-floored church basement. Not exactly the groundwork for happily-ever-after.