A Simplified Life: with Brooke Happe
Brooke has a background as a collegiate athlete and a physical therapist. She is now a homeschool mom of 3, a wife, and owner of b.e.happe, “handmade hats that give back”. Her company donates wish list items each month to Children’s Hospitals across the U.S.
In 2019, Brooke and her husband’s life looked like most of America: Kids attending school, participating in sports, attending weekends at obligations, and as she said, “a constant commitment to someone else.”
They felt like they wanted more out of life, not physically more, but she stated, “more life, with less. Giving our children experiences over things.”
They decided to sell their home and everything they owned to focus on simplifying life and spend more time together as a family. For the last 3 years they’ve traveled the country as a family in their RV.
You recently said on IG that In 2015 you were “living in central Iowa, in an amazing town, great neighbors, life-long friends, beautiful house and everything you thought you dreamed of”. What factors led to your decision to sell everything to travel the country in your RV?
We decided to sell our home and everything we owned to focus on simplifying life and spend more time together as a family. There was nothing that was necessarily holding us in Iowa. My husbands job required him to fly to see customers and he could work remotely whenever he was not with customers. My business I can run from anywhere so we knew financially nothing would change. We built what we thought was our dream home, but as we lived in it, we found ourselves always in the same rooms…together, and the upkeep of a large home takes up time. Living in the midwest, the weather is unpredictable and we found that in the winters it was difficult to see family who lived 3-5 hours away because of the weather. I knew that if we sold our home, we could visit family and spend quality time together. We wouldn’t be traveling back for the weekend only to rush to see everyone before having to leave again to get back to the traditional work week.
You said “what I thought I dreamed of”, what does this mean, can you expand more on that?
As I have grown older, I have come to understand that there are seasons of life. Building our dream home, having dream jobs, raising a family, kids attending traditional school, etc was a season of our life for us. I think it's very common for society to associate dreams with things. We had achieved what we had wanted to achieve and felt like we wanted more. But not physically anymore, more life with less. Giving our children experiences over things.
What were a couple of the more difficult factors in regards to your children/family when making this decision?
We firmly believe that it’s the people who make a home, not the physical home itself so it was not difficult for us to part with our home to sell it. The biggest factor for us with selling everything was making sure that we were able to travel to locations that allowed my husband to still fly out for business travel. Once we knew that we could find places to park our home on wheels near airports, it was a matter of getting everything in place to sell and set out.
Were you ever concerned they would be “missing out” on sports, school friends, neighborhood friends, etc and if or if not, how did you look at this?
My husband and I knew that we would be opening up other opportunities for our kids that others may not have. Our kids have played soccer and baseball in Florida and were supposed to play baseball two seasons in Arizona however were unable to due to the global pandemic. There are many organizations that allow children to participate in sports. With regards to school friends I knew that technology would allow continued communication. We started traveling in July of 2019, so in hindsight, they have yet to miss ‘normal’ school year since we left.
You mentioned before that life was getting too busy, how did this look for your family?
I stepped away from my career in 2015 when I was expecting my third child as my heart was calling me to be home with the kids. I knew I could return back to practice Physical Therapy when they got older. So before traveling was even a thought I was trying to make the most out of my time with them while they were young. Our life looked very much like most of America, kids attended school, participated in sports, we spent the weekends at obligations, had home responsibilities and my husband traveled during the week for work. It was a constant commitment to someone else. If we didn’t go to school because the kids were tired, then you would have to give an explanation.
In what ways is life simpler now and less busy? How does this look?
Life is much different now. We have the flexibility to do what we love and what we want to do. The kids sleep in and don’t have to get up and rush out the door. Their little bodies can sleep until they need to. We homeschool and I can focus on teaching them topics that they want in forms of learning that cater best to each of the three kids. They can explore and see things. They are learning about the Grand Canyon at the Grand Canyon. I feel like they have their childhood back. Other traveling families/kids just want to be kids and everyone plays with others, there aren’t groups or exclusion. With a small home we have less to clean up, less items to clutter our minds, everything has a function and purpose and we can spend our free time doing what interests us.
How do you feel like you are now making the most out of the time you have been given?
We are giving ourselves and children memories to last a lifetime. We are going and visiting our bucket list places. We are doing things we truly enjoy doing, not doing things that we are required to do for others.
How was your business b.happe birthed? Can you tell us a little about your journey with starting b.happe?
I taught myself to crochet in 2015 as a new years resolution to learn something new. I was getting ready to step away from my career as a medical professional in which I did alot of manual rehabilitation. I wanted to keep my hands strong so I thought crochet was a good option. In May of 2015 I started staying home with my kids and by the start of school in 2015 I had a 4,2 and newborn. Running errands and taking kids to school it was tough to have time to yourself. So I made myself a crochet hat to hide my hair and feel more put together. Others mama’s started asking about where to get the hat and I decided to open a shop online. From word of mouth to social media, b.e.happe has grown.
Do you make all the hats yourself, or do you have help?
I do not make all the hats myself anymore, I have a team of 10 other females from across the U.S. that help me make hats on varying levels.
What does this mean “ Handmade hats that give back?”
When I started b.e.happe I donated a hat for each hat that I sold. As I grew, I was searching for another way to give back in 2018 as I could not keep up making donation hats. Our middle son had a virus that went to his lungs and he spent a week in isolation in the PICU at our local childrens hospital. Not being able to leave the hospital room for a week is a long time and Child Life Services were so helpful. They brought movies, toys, distraction items when he was getting treatments and things to do for the siblings when they visited. I found out with talking to the specialists that all items are donated and I knew that we could make a difference in this way. We donate wish list items each month to children’s hospitals across the U.S.
Where can people go to purchase b.happe hats?
You can purchase from my website: www.behappedesigns.com or shop on social media finding my page @behappedesigns
