Monthly Archives: December 2018

This is 30

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Bryce Canyon National Park

Today I (Yi) turn 30 years old. I’ve been decrying this milestone and its sobering implications of aging for months, but with 3 decades of life now behind me, I realize that it is a fine day to take pause and reflect on just how far I’ve come.

My first 10 years as a feeble child I spent gobbling up stories on the page and on film, feeding my mind with fantasies in lands far away, where I was whoever I wanted to be, however large and cunning and heroic.

The next 10 years as a confused teen I spent grappling—
with the meaning of home, as I resettled in place after place, casting a web of belonging across 2 continents, 7 cities, and countless rooms;
with the concept of love, when the forms I knew best were broken and jagged;
and with insecurities that seemed to swallow me inside out.

The last 10 years in my roaring twenties I spent growing—
a sense of self-acceptance, stubborn flaws and all;
a budding confidence in the capabilities of my head and my hands and my heart;
and against great odds, a love that gives me home wherever I go, a love that grew this dream that grows with each stretch of road.

These past 6 weeks leading up to my 30th, I was suddenly grounded. Dan and I flew back to NJ to take care of my little brother while my mom flew to the other side of the world where my dad was getting emergency surgery. It’s been a grueling time, but through it I caught a heartening glimpse of the kind of parents Dan and I will be together someday, and I’m thankful to have that to carry me into the next decade.

I hope my thirties will be about gratitude—
for each bit of joy I get to find, feel, and share;
for the infinite knowledge and beauty in this big world;
and for all the time I’ve been given to make the difference I want to make, however humble and foolhardy and ordinary.

Tell Us Tigers: Sharing our Story with the Princeton Community

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Our alma mater invited us to share our story as part of their “Tell Us Tigers” series. We were honored to be able to take part and hope that our story might inspire others to chase their dreams. The post can be viewed on Princeton’s official Instagram or Facebook, and the content is included below.

Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ

When Yi invited me to watch the X-Men trilogy in the theater of Colonial Club in 2011, we had no idea that one day we’d be newlyweds traveling the country in a Winnebago RV. But a simple common interest led to more movie nights, shared meals and conversations that saw the sun rise.

A year later, we took our first road trip to Mt. Rushmore to commemorate Yi’s naturalization and our anniversary. On that trip and each after, we fell in love with each other and the road, and our road trip romance came full circle when I proposed at Colonial during Reunions 2015 and we celebrated our wedding at Mt. Rushmore in 2017.

By then, we’d already started researching RVs and full-time travel, but most days it felt like a pipe dream. We’d followed traditional paths, me through law school and Yi through business school, and attained the success and stability our parents worked so hard for after migrating to the States from Puerto Rico and China. Moving into an RV meant big changes — downsizing, leaving my law firm, setting up a remote office and more — but we were committed to turning our ‘one day’ into ‘day one.’

In September, on day 29, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary as full-time RVers. We hit day 100 last week. This photo was taken on day 91, hiking the Baldwin Trail in Sedona, with Cathedral Rock in the background. In these months, we have traveled to 19 states and 11 national parks (bringing us to 45 and 20 total). Our goal? Visit all 50 states and as many national parks as possible to witness history across their diverse cultures and landscapes.

We call ourselves @rvleaguers and nomad nerds because Princeton taught us that learning doesn’t stop once you walk out of FitzRandolph Gate — it’s a lifelong journey. On the road, we challenge ourselves to explore the unfamiliar and truly taste freedom. We have a marriage founded at the best damn place of all (Princeton!), unfolded over thousands of miles and growing every day. The road can be long and unpredictable, but RV life has shown us that if we face it together with love and curiosity, there’s no limit to what we can do.