I have always been intrigued by the endless possibilities of the open road. When I got together with my wife Carrie, I was overjoyed to discover that she too was cursed with a bad case of gypsy nomadic itchy feet syndrome. Even our marriage was a transient affair. It began in the black rock dessert of Nevada at the Burning Man Festival when some dude calling himself "Super-Ducky Man" said "Quack your married!" Next, we held a celebration back in NYC with a hip crowd of thespians, interactive media pioneers, and bon vivants. Finally, we tied the legal knot in Kauai with a gay episcopalian priest in gold lemay. Somewhere along that journey we conceived our sweet daughter Lola.
Suffice it to say, travel has been huge part of the life of our little family. We are inherently bi-coastal: my wife is from New York and I am from LA. Do to this fact, my kids (the aforementioned Lola and her little bro Orson) have already been from sea to shining sea more than most Americans. Carrie and I have driven through every State in the contiguous United States and traveled to Alaska and Hawaii. (Not to mention trips to Puerto Rico…you'll be a State someday Papi!) Through work, we have taken each other to Rome, London, Vancouver, and Toronto. And yet…we still have those itchy feet.
We have always dreamt of taking our kids out of school and providing them with a world wide education. It always seemed like a pipe dream. Something we might do in the distant future. It just wasn't practical after all. Then there was a "perfect storm" of circumstances and realizations that pushed it into the realm of possibility:
1) Work was stable.
a) I was blessed with a regular tv gig on a show with legs
(You're the best JT!)
b) In the two six month hiatuses between Seasons 1, 2, and 3
of R&I, I literally only managed to work a combined TWO
DAYS. Granted I got to work with great people, but neither
of those gigs was a career changer.
2) Traditional modes of elementary education available to us suck.
a) In spite of the heroic efforts and best intentions of a few
choice administrators and teachers; the LAUSD is limited,
narrow minded, and broken.
b) Private school is great, but I only have two kidneys that I
can sell on the black market in order to afford the cost.
Six figures to teach my kids how to spell "CAT"?
Are you fucking serious?!
The question quickly went from being "How can we ever do this?" to "How in the hell can we NOT do this?!"
So here I am. On the adventure of my life with three of the greatest people in the world!
