Every Season Must Come To An End…
Before we moved into a bus, we had a dream of being Disney Vloggers and adding some travel content in. It was a show about our wild dumpster fire of a life, of sorts. We began as Red, White, and Bethune doing Livestreams on Facebook with us and our kids where We’d do little challenges or talk about something funny that happened in our day.
People we knew would see us around town and remark on how much they loved the live show that week. Truly, we loved sharing our family with our community. When we decided to sell everything, buy a vintage bus, remodel it, and travel the country we changed our YouTube course to vlog our daily life.
Genuinely, we had no clue what we were doing, lol. It was just us bumbling our way through life. In discovering this newfound freedom, we wanted everyone to see just how great this life was for us.
I’ll never forget the first time we boondocked, shortly after we launched onto the road. We had never been to Colorado, so that’s where our sights were set for our first big destination. With growing up in Florida, it’s very common to have a Stay-Cation, where you simply take a short trip in the vacation state we lived in. I’d never left the state of Florida until I was nineteen and Kyle took us on a plane to New York City.
Going out west was a very big deal for us and here we were just outside of Salida, Colorado. Kyle’s brother Stephen and his partner Jonathan joined us on our maiden voyage out west and they were camping with us off grid in their bus too. When you’re boondocking, you must be self contained; meaning you have to provide your own power, water, and take all of your trash with you.
The environment was very dusty and dirty, but had breathtaking Mountain View’s. We ended up in what seemed like a gorge, with mountainous walls on either side of us and a full picture of the Rockies in front of us. The days were filled with sunshine and laughter as the kids chased each other through the fir trees in the forest.
Nearby was the Arkansas River, where we’d go during the hot late August afternoons and soak our feet as the dogs splashed and our kids chased them. Freedom sure felt glorious!
On this one particular night, we met a Vanlife couple and got lost in time chatting with them. Before we knew it, we had talked into the later evening. As we said our goodbyes, our gaze turned to our bus. Every single light in the bus was on, but that wasn’t our biggest concern. We didn’t realize how important it was to close your windows at night, camping out in the middle of the Colorado wilderness.
Our windows were wide open.
You see, the massive swarm of Colorado bugs were drawn in through our open windows by the bright beacon of light our bus was emitting. By the time we got back and inside, our sweet Blue Betty had been overrun with native Colorado insects and we were getting an up close and personal look at them.
How were we going to get what felt like hundreds of thousands of bugs out of our home?
We had to think fast and I turned out every light except for a small one by the door of the bus. Kyle ran outside and came back in with our battery powered leaf blower rushing to the back of the bus. I heard the battery of the leaf blower roar and the familiar wind blowing sound whirred to life.
Like he had done this before, Kyle strategically directed the wind of the blower in a circular fashion to gather the bugs and blow them to the front. As he was blowing the kids and I were ushering out our unwanted houseguests through our front bus door.
Ever since that fateful day, we’ve done our very best to shut all the windows with the first sign of the sun going down.
Not only did we learn this lesson, but you were there with us in video.
So many defining moments of our lives were made because of these videos we make. I love that we have a catalog of memories for the past five years and it’s something I’ll be grateful for forever.
Last week, Kyle and I had a deep conversation about making videos and he shared how his heart just wasn’t in it anymore and he decided that he’s going to stop making them. He needs a season of rest and he is certain he doesn’t want to carry on with Being Bethunes anymore.
Throughout the years of doing this, Kyle has had this same sentiment a few times. I knew in my heart of hearts that this time, he was serious.
It’s with great sadness that I’m sharing Being Bethunes YouTube will no longer be putting out videos. Our channel has run its course and I am so incredibly grateful for each and every moment, every single viewer, comment, like, and share. The livestreams have always held a special place in my heart and I’m truly going to miss seeing you on them.
I’m really still trying to process it all and see which way is up after the dust settles.
In the meantime, I’m doing something that has been a passion project of mine. I’ve started my own YouTube Channel, jennuinely being. It’s a cozy, judgment-free space where I share real-life lessons through inspirational short stories, while doing everyday activities like putting on makeup, washing dishes, or making tea. My goal is to create a comforting atmosphere where viewers feel like friends, helping you navigate life’s ups and downs with warmth, wisdom, and authenticity.
If that sounds like a place you’d enjoy hanging out, I’d love to meet you there.
You might be wondering what will happen to our social media and our website…
I’m still going to post about our life in those places. I’m sure Instagram will lean more into my interests while showing my life. Simply having fun with it is my main goal.
I enjoy writing my blog very very much and that’s going to stay right where it’s at, as well as the audio blog too. Those are things my heart loves to create and share, so those aren’t going anywhere.
If I was a betting woman, I would say that I’m sure there will be occasional update videos on Being Bethunes. We aren’t closing the channel completely and are allowing it to remain active. The kids and I love to watch our old videos and I see a marathon of those in our future, lol.
Gratitude is all I have for y’all that’ve joined our journey along the way. Its truly meant the world to me and picked me up on days that I thought I couldn’t keep going in life. I can’t thank you enough for being here and being you.
Many things are in store for us Bethunes. My book, Soulful Miles: Finding Light on Life’s Darkest Roads will be published on April 15th. After you get your copy on Amazon & Kindle, I’d love to hear what you think of it!
Life is all about evolving and this is just the next step for us, growing into who we are meant to be.
🫶jenn
P.S. I love you.
P.P.S. I sure am going to miss making those framily videos for you.