How it all began..

There are many secrets people keep in life- their age, their beliefs, their truest loves, their innermost thoughts- but not me. I will be like an open book, if only to you, if only to my readers. I was born on a chilly December night in 1991, I am 20 now and still love those types of nights. When a chill permeates the normally warm Florida air. I was raised Christian and baptized when I was still a child, my mom raised me to walk the narrow path and to see God in all things good.
I am one of the few lucky people who find their true love in youth, and even luckier to have been allowed to keep him. My Husband, John, and I married right out of high-school, we were (and still are) young but love keeps us together through all the struggles we have gone through. Our biggest struggle came in the form of great tragedy.
John’s brother, David, was driving home from his best-friends wedding when a drunk driver sped through a red light. It was midnight when we got the call. We waited at the hospital all night, but he didn’t make it through. Last June David left his children without a parent, their mother had died a year before after a battle with cancer. We were the little one’s godparents.
When we first took them in the twins were quiet, and introverted. I suppose it comes from losing two parents right in a row. At three it was hard for them to understand that their father wasn’t coming back. Hunter and Amy both have dark straight hair and solemn brown eyes. I am afraid they have seen far too much sadness in their lives, but they are sweet. Hunter loves hockey, just like his uncle, and Amy is an artist at heart.

It was a hard adjustment to make, going from being young, in love, and free to do whatever we please to being parents but John and I are starting to get the hang of it.. I think.  

I know what might be on your mind right about now- you know about my family and about my life but what is my name? Why, my name is Ida May. Ida May Clarkson.
I was named after my grandmother, an inspiring women and my hero. She was a modern women, before being a modern women was in style. Spirited and always impassioned for a cause. She went all over the country, to countless cities and towns, spreading her ideas but moreover she spread her passion for life. Everywhere she went she was greeted with welcoming smiles. She was on the road for more then a year straight, and she met my wonderful grandfather on her journey. Travel was her entire life. Ever since I was a child I aspired to be like her- to fight for a cause, and to explore the world.
John and I were planning on running away, going on the adventure I had planned for my entire life, when David passed away. Amy and Hunter are a blessing, but at first I feared they had stopped my dreams.
One night I gathered all my maps, all my hopes, into my arms and tossed them into the garbage. That is where John found them. He picked them back up, dusted them off, and promised me that we would make our journey.
Soon we will load the twins into our mini-van and drive, we will follow the road map I drew up when we were 16 and 17, and we will go across the country- visiting all the locations my grandmother did, and perhaps even more.
Hard times and good times are in store for us and I hope that you will follow us on this journey. Learn about new places, read along with our adventure, and help us keep going