The neat thing about having children is that we are constantly all learning together. When we travel to a new place, our history fanatic, Katherine will look up the history and information of the towns we visit. When we took a trip to Camp Stevens and Astoria, Oregon. We discovered not only beautiful territory, but also the filming area of the movie “Free Willy”; the bombing site of a Wold War II era attack, a monumental agreement between Japan and the US; and saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. We learned about Lewis and Clark, their across country journey, the trail they forged. We saw the remnants of the first American Fish Cannery in Oregon. Also, the founder of Astoria Oregon, John Astor, was from the East, founded Astoria and was named for him. Adding up the miles is also tallying up the history our children understand. From exploring the mountain side in Colorado at Mount Shevano, to building sand castles next to the Pacific, our children are becoming well traveled, cultured and hands-on educated. The first hand look at our history enables our children to grasp the knowledge for much longer than memorized content from a textbook. It’s history come-alive for them. Together we’ve seen wide stretching valleys, explored terrain, hiked mountains, played in the snow, experienced different climate conditions, watched bugs and other critters, counted birds, and studied the histories of the regions we’ve visited and lived. We’ve read about the railroad, the constructing of the first roads, and the history of the ports. We’ve read about sailing, fishing, cargo ships, and submarines. We make education a huge part of our lives. Katherine loves to enter a new town, explore the internet content and teach the rest of us all about the new location. When we were travelling from Mississippi to Colorado and then again from Colorado to Washington and Oregon, we studied the Trail of Tears, the First Nation’s tribes, the ancestors of this land. We learned about discrimination they faced from the white intruders and settlers. We taught them about the wars of the country, the wars that brought together the United States. Although they are young and we will probably have to go over the content again once they’re older, they will have these rich memories to accompany their learning. They will have these photographs to look back on and be able to be filled with the history, instead of just filled with the words on a page. Katherine and I are readers, learners, students of not just books, schools and teachers, but of life, travelling and exploring! We want our children to grow up filled with a lifetime of rich experiences and a joy for learning about new people, places and ways of life. We want ourselves and our children to be well-rounded, non-judgmental, understanding individuals. People that offer their friendship and solidarity to the weak and oppressed. People that have an understanding of what life is like for more than just one type of lifestyle. We want our children to be globally conscious, not live in a suburban bubble unaware of what life is like for countless others. We want our children to be strong, to be independent, to be helpers. We wish for them a firm understanding of the world around them. How will they know, if we don’t show them? Katherine and I both from a young age wanted to see the world. I used to fantasize about working for National Geographic, travelling the world and being a photo-journalist, sending in my trip articles and photographs. Although, this isn’t the same exact dream I have now, I am putting my travel stories and pictures together now. Someone recently asked us how do the kids feel about travelling? Well, I’ve asked them several times. We believe in honesty with our children when we discuss our lives with them. Jayden says she loves travelling around, she says a home was too boring but wouldn’t mind it again but wants lots of vacations. Our youngest doesn’t remember living in a home and so doesn’t have it to compare to and would like to experience it. I hope to be able to give that to them soon. We have been living in the Portland area for right at a year. I enjoyed the short lived call center job I had but Portland seems to have housing crisis and a tough job market. I’ve attempted disability yet again, stayed on top of the disability “homework”, doctor appointments and the entire lot of doctor appointments, yet every hoop I jumped through for them wasn’t enough. We’ve been on the affordable housing lists, the shelter waiting lists and have kept up to date on our 2-1-1 entries for shelter. There hasn’t been any form of shelter for us come available. We love to travel, obviously. However, we also want a firm foundation for our children. We don’t want to be in this situation, we were forced into this situation. We’ve accepted it for what it is and have been making the best of it as we can. We love our children more than life and want a good life for them. Which is why I’ve branched out in my writing. I began this blog to share my ideas, share my experiences and hopefully encourage someone to keep being diligent. Although our dreams didn’t turn out exactly as we had hoped we are still making them come true, one way or another, one day at a time!
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Authors:James and Katherine are a transgender couple raising two kids. They were southerners when coming to understand themselves as trans. Ultimately it lead to a nearly three year road trip to find home. Now they are re-housed and still focused on outreach in the transgender community! Archives
October 2020
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