There’s something quite exciting about planning for the future. Really planning, not just sitting back and seeing where life takes you, which is how the Muggle and I have been treating life these last four years.

In little under a month it will be Imbolc, and our four year anniversary. It’s strange to think that this time four years ago I was at TAFE studying Graphic Design, living with my mother in Victoria as a 23 year-old, and unsure of where I would be going once the course had finished.

Well, then Muggle came along and threw that all upside down! By September I was looking at TAFE’s in Sydney for second year study, by October I had found said TAFE. In November we found a rental and in December (ten days after I had my gallbladder removed) he flew down to Avalon to help me drive up and we began our life together.

Since meeting each other, we’ve moved six times between two states. I know we’ll move again before Lughnasadh next year, as the project Muggle is on finishes around Litha. Oh the joys of working in the construction industry. We’re both in it but with two different companies. They haven’t won any new jobs in the Sydney region, so we can only assume his next job will be regional.

The project I’m on, however, won’t finish until 2015.

So here comes planning for the future! We want kids. I’ll rephrase that – I want kids, as I’ve mentioned countless times before. I’m so ready to be a mum, I’m getting depressed with all the “I’m pregnant” and “Not long to go” and “Oh look at my cute kids!” posts on Facebook of late. Who knows when kids will come along, but I’ll continue to live and work in Sydney until that does happen.

In the meantime, if Muggle has to go north, west, south for work; I’ll have to move into a one-bedder while my work is still in Sydney.

Now here’s the fun bit – we’ve been looking at buying a caravan! Nothing bigger than sixteen-feet, and nothing with two single beds. Oh my gods, so many for sale with two single beds! So if Muggle does have to go north (or wherever) for work, he can live in the caravan for the time being, while we’re still paying rent for me here, and he’ll travel back on weekends (or whenever he can, or I’ll go to him) to see each other. It’ll be like when we first met, only seeing each other for one weekend every three weeks and spending countless hours on the phone.

We’ve also made a “definite” decision – once we’re over moving around, travelling and living like gypsies, we’ve decided on the town we’re going to settle down in!! I’m not going to say where exactly, but it’s a twin-town we both adore. I looked online today and found that, if we were ready to make the move right now, we could buy a three bedroom house for under $200k. That gives us hope for the future.

Getting my Muggle to settle down in one place is such a hard thing, as we’re both just so used to moving around. And it’s fun, don’t get me wrong! But every time I truly settle into a place/home/town, we have to move again. And packing, I HATE PACKING!

My thoughts have wandered over to being pregnant in a caravan, and how/if it can be done. It’d certainly have it’s challenges. But for me, the upside would be our child would be able to grow up running around a caravan park, playing outdoors, going for walks or riding their bike around, and experiencing nature. For me, the longer I can keep my child away from a game console, the better! I have great memories of holidays as a child at caravan parks, and leaving bananas in trees for the local possums.

Rather than sitting inside all day while baby sleeps, I can sit outside (weather permitting) and just…be.

I would love to live in a caravan like a gypsy. I’d love to have nature and trees at my doorstep, rather than a round-about. Wake to the sound of birds, rather than the Liverpool via Bankstown train.

So here’s a toast to the future – to living like a gypsy, to finally owning a caravan, and to having a plan for the first time in years.