So I feel the need to reassure you all that we don't have this absolutely sun-shiny life without bumps or bruises along the way. I value the Internet for leaning into the positive side of things and spreading inspiration, but I also am really mistrustful when it turns into a desperate effort to paint our lives as perfect and rosy. SO, I am sharing some of the trials and tribulations as well.
THE KIDS. The kids definitely have their breakdowns. Let's face it...this is CRAZY!!! They are unsure where they are going to be at any given time and are almost constantly on the move. Somehow in the bus it has become easier to watch their swings...maybe not always to anticipate them, but at least to be more understanding about them then when we are embroiled in our other daily life "business". For the most part, they are eating this up with a spoon. There is enough constant activity to keep them challenged at all times...and this isn't waterpark activity. Yesterday they re-enacted a favorite children's story called "Roxaboxen" by building a fake town out of rocks in a Lowe's parking lot (hence the crushed finger!). Today my son was soooooo amazed by the lint that came out of the laundromat dryer he begged for 25 minutes to let him keep it and, when the answer was an unswerving "no", he performed several experiments on it before he threw it away. So while they are certainly tired many days, carsick some and homesick frequently and definitely overstimulated, I believe what they are taking away from all of this is HUGE.
THE BUS. The bus is doing EXTREMELY well for going so many miles already. She is a champ and rarely complains, even about her broken front window (hopefully to be fixed in Cali) and the hatch we let fly off (fixed by JR). However, these mountains have not been kind to her and, though we are trying to avoid them, my map reading skills are faltering with the distraction of kids (which I take very personally). SO, we have gone a few routes I may have avoided if I had realized a time ago that my atlas is in no way a relief map! This has put lots of stress on my poor driving husband and, while he has done very well trying to keep calm there have certainly been some hairy moments (dark, steep, hairpin, elk-cluttered roads) that will inform the future of this trip (and all future trips ever known to this family). I am proud to say that he is an AMAZING driver of such a rig and can probably go toe to toe with almost any teamster at this point (a challenge I should probably not lay down - knowing so many excellent teamsters as we do!).
AND US. Well, we are ALWAYS terrible at taking needed time together until we get edgy with one another - and being in a bus doesn't make that a ton easier. So emotional hygiene routines are a MUST (I'll let you know when we've figured that out!). You see your issues with each other so much quicker in a space like this. BUT, it gives us a lot of clarity around things too. How we communicate about things and where our gaps are. While we have begun to travel a bit away from "brand new, fun and exciting" and towards "whoa, slow up a bit and regroup" we are finding stress where we would have laughed it off earlier. So today we had a mandatory down day. It worked like a charm and luckily we have enough flexibility in our schedule (see Podcast 2!!) to allow for this. And our sanity DEMANDS this. Laying on the bed being attacked by three kids wearing swim masks and goggles while rain pounded the roof and thunder boomed, I stopped the roller-coaster for just a second. I took stock in everything around me and held space for the thought that no matter how stressful I make it, we really are living a dream. A dream I am grateful for and, hopefully, blessed to share with all in our path.
No matter how crazy things get in your life, keep calm and VonRowdy on! ")
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