Travel Diary April 2018 – Windsor, England

Has it been two months since we left home?  Since we packed up our life, put it into a couple of suitcases and backpacks and decided to become modern-day nomads.  Full-time travellers wondering from place to place.  It sounds so aimless.  So lost.  A feeling of panic threatens to rear its ugly head seconds before we look at each other for assurance and confirmation that we made the right choice.

Did we do the right thing?  We quit everything.  Did we quit or did we run? I’m not sure, but does it matter?  Although we were happy to a degree, we needed a change.  Life felt like a spinning thread that almost shoots off the top of a sewing machine if you push the peddle too hard and fast without anchoring it properly.

We look at each other and decide to go ahead and stick to our plan because we know, for sure, that this new and strange wandering life will bear fruit in ways we cannot imagine.  In wonderful ways we only hear other travelling families describe it.  A new life without clutter and things to distract us from each other.  Without the stress and pressure of busy work and school life. Soon, I’m sure, we’ll be telling all with conviction about how we saw more of fair England than most of her locals who lived here all their lives.  Of how we explored America slowly and deliberately seeing all those iconic landmarks and legends the movies and books are full of. How we lived on a greek or Carribean island lazing on the beach on sunny days after a surf lesson and swimming with turtles or dolphins or something unbelievably amazing.

We’ll see our beloved children grow and learn in front of our eyes day in and day out.  Get to know them for who they really are becoming before they get there and be a part of their development into people.  Good people with character, individuality and a story of their own to tell.  Be a part of their journey to discover and develop their passion in life without the pressure of fast-paced 21st-century living.  At one point last year I realised that, for better or for worse, school and friends and outside influences were making a bigger impact in their lives than we were.  I was looking at strangers in my house not knowing who they were anymore.

When they were little I knew them too well. Every need was provided for before they knew about it.  Problems, challenges and tantrums could be anticipated well in advance because we knew them.  Somewhere from the age of seven, the game changed and they changed so fast it scared me.  I saw signs of the adults they might become that made me want to shout: “You’re just a baby! My baby! I wiped your bum and your runny nose. Don’t grow up so fast. Come back!”.

This travellers life will bring us closer together the way families were meant to be.  A wise friend of mine recently said that families were meant to be close and to be together every day, but society today has forced it the other way. (Shout out to Marlene, my life-long friend, who is herself on an epic road trip with her family of five into Africa. We hope to share some of their stories and spectacular photos here soon)  Another wise lady whom we met just before we left SA, Noelyn, said that homeschooling brings a quiet peace that settles on a family in a way that you cannot describe to anyone else.  She home schooled two daughters from start to finish, both of whom went on to successfully complete degrees at university and she still homeschools her third child.

Society make us feel like it’s not natural to be with each other all day anymore without getting frustrated and wanting to flee! It takes time to break away from those ways and to learn to live together closely in peace and harmony finding a rhythm that is ours. A rhythm that our family can move to and breath in together as one.  And we’re definitely on our way there.  Mostly, we’re there where we want to be with each other.  Yes, we’ll need some “me” or “us” time and we’ll have it, but I am content.  As long as we have each other and are safe and healthy we’ll enjoy this new life and look forward to the unknown.