Look &/or listen as my guest tells the story of The Turtle.
It is the Thing that matters to her because it has given her an amazing life experience with her children and her parents all while allowing her to explore the world and learn about herself.
The Turtle is a 2006 Fleetwood Jamboree motorhome and similar to a Tesla, all you have to do is unplug and go. But unlike a Tesla, it cost less and you can sleep, cook & shower in it.
Michelle is proud to be a third-generation full-time motor homer.
When her grandfather lost his job in 1933, he and her grandmother moved into a camper trailer for three years. There is a newspaper article with a photo of her grandparents making tea on a little stove all dressed up in their finery. They told the reporter that they were going to be sad when they had to move back into a house. They did, but they kept the camper trailer.
Her parents followed suit. By the time Michelle had her own young kids, her parents became full-time motor homers. She & her husband bought “The Turtle” in 2006. They traveled to national parks and state parks in their motorhomes. Michelle loved spending time with her parents while she was a young mother. Her parents got to spend ten months with their grandkids and her kids got to learn about their grandparents.
The Turtle holds these family stories in her “shell”.
After those adventures though, The Turtle just “sat” around.
In 2020 Michelle lost her job during the “Covid spring”.
To make things even more challenging she was “post-divorce” and with no job in sight…she was only weeks away from having to move out of her rental. She didn’t know where or when a job would come through for her so getting another apartment made no sense….
On August 1st, 2020 Michelle had no house, no spouse, and with her youngest off to college, no kid to take care of. Now what, she asked herself? She still had The Turtle!
After getting over the shock about her new life situation, including a global pandemic, she decided to just drive out to Yellowstone. But she didn’t want to try to redo the trips she did with her kids. Michelle knew that if she did that she’d sob the entire time.
She KNEW she had to do something different. She had been following Brandon Stanton project Humans of New York and it inspired her to think about what she could do with this “in-between” time. Her third act so to speak.
So, she drove all over the United States, in The Turtle, interviewing hundreds of people about their lives during the pandemic. As you can tell, Michelle has always been interested in people’s lives and stories.
What began as a short-term pandemic project, to prove her worthiness for a job, has turned into a book, a passion project & a whole new crazy beautiful life.
She had just one interview question: “It’s January 1st 2020, what was your 2020 supposed to be like and what did it end up being like through to the present?”
Who We Are Now Stories of what Americans lost and found during the covid-19 pandemic shares the answers to this question from people all over the country and from different walks of life.
Michelle’s story and the 100’s of people who shared their pandemic stories with her are also held in Turtle’s “shell”. Without her motorhome, these stories may never have been asked about, told and put down on paper.
After 100’s of interviews, Michelle found, as I did on my 5-month road trip, that who we are now is who we’ve always been. We think about one another. We are not as divided as the media leads us to believe.
One of the things that was really beautiful during the pandemic, when we were on lockdown, is that we thought about each other a lot. In the quietness, we were wondering how each other’s lives were. We’re just people who want to be good neighbors.
Michelle & I both believe in building connections, community & legacy. Her book is a powerfully healing work of pandemic personal & public history & art of how stories can heal the world.
You can find out more about Michelle Fishburne & follow along on her adventures here: whowearenow.us and on Instagram here.
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