Blog #37 Terra Firma…..

I cannot believe our journey has officially come to an end and we are home. We have been home for 2 weeks and to be honest they have felt like a smiling, crazy, wonderful, exhausting, wine filled, eye opening, people filled whirlwind!!!!

It has been absolutely amazing seeing my family again. To get those long awaited hugs from my mum and dad, to sit and chat with them and share our tales and to see my kids being loved and cherished by their grandparents again. To see my brother and sister-in-law and their precious kids again and share meals with them. Best best.

To see so many of our friends again who we missed so greatly. It has been so special to reconnect and laugh and catch up with these people who just know us.

So many people have asked us how we are feeling being back ? To be honest…… a bit of everything. Full Reality has not yet set in. But with this rushing high we do feel rather overwhelmed, a little exhausted and a little uncertain.

And yip there have been days where I have said to Dev "that's it we hitting the road again!!!"

The other day I messaged our friends from New Caledonia who we had met in Swakopmund. They were in Zanzibar and about to head off to Sri Lanka. (Green with envy!!!) The first line of their reply hit me like a bulldozer……” HERE, LIFE IS SIMPLE”……

We have only been back a matter of days and our life feels rushed and busy and plan-filled and very far from simple. I shed a tear for that “Here life is Simple” feeling. Why is it that “returning home and to reality” suddenly seems to rob you of “the simple life”……….????

Dev and I have chatted about it and know that somehow we have to ensure we keep our life simple. But it is hard when suddenly you have to find a home to live in, buying heaps of school uniforms and stationary, see people, having plans, sorting out admin…. . And we gasp at the massive amount of “stuff” we have in storage, by the heaps of unnecessary “stuff” attached to normal life. All we really need is in our car and trailer!

We are loving staying with my mum and dad in my family home. And being spoilt and looked after. But they are packing up this loved home after 44 years and this in turn is a rather frenetic environment. We have realised both our kids and Dev and I need some stability right now. Thankfully a cousin of a friend of mine has allowed us to use their gorgeous perfect “town” home for a month or two. Until we find something more permanent. I think having our own space will immediately help us settle. Our stuff is currently spread everywhere and it will be good to have at least our trailer and car unpacked in one space. Cause as we know this is all we need!! We need this space to slow down and focus on us and also ensure our kids have our emotional support and strength to cope with their return to school. School......how hard it will be after their year of freedom, constant chatter from the car seat, very little mask wearing, no shoes, very few rules and vast heaps of daily wonders???? But we pray that with our love and support and with constant sharing of feelings they will be fine.

I am not entirely sure how we will “keep it simple” but we are trying our best to slow down… but WOW it is hard.

As much as we hated having Covid over Xmas and it messed up our “coming home” plans I think god knew that we needed one last “quiet time” before the real effects of our return home hit us. Time to boost our strength before the onslaught of “normal” hit us. Before rushing and plans and to do lists became part of our lives after a year of tranquility and peace.

But we know that by keeping our unit of 4 “united and strong” and with our family and friends holding us close we will be fine. But we will continue to focus on KEEPING IT REAL AND SIMPLE!

Plus of course planning our next trip (maybe not a year long!!!) to ensure our feet don’t get too itchy!!!!!!

Katie x