On the road A couple years ago we talked about a 6 month road trip going across southern Canada and the northern States. We had a route mapped out, an approximate cost and ideas of what we wanted to see. Then we started to look at the cost, the time off needed, how much driving we would be doing compared to non-driving time, and the age of our kids. We decided that it was all too much right now. We put the idea on the back burner. We said that "someday" when the kids were older, or when we had more time, or when we had more money, we would look at it again and go. We still wanted to do it. We enjoy traveling together but a six month road trip was just a little too intimidating.
My mother-in-law and Levi Then, a year ago, our life came to a halt. My husband's parents and his Grandmother were all killed in what can only be called an incredible and unbelievable tragedy. It turned our lives upside down and shocked us to our core. We put our lives in Whitehorse on pause and went to Colorado with our kids to deal with all the stuff that needs taking care of during a time like this.
While we were cleaning out my in-laws house I found something that reminded me about the only real dream I remember my mother-in-law talking about. Since she was a young teenager she had had a dream to backpack around Europe. She wanted to go with her husband or her kids and travel all over, staying in B&B's and experiencing all the Europe could offer. Her trip was always postponed because of time, money, kids, life. The last time I talked to her she said “someday” I’ll go and maybe my kids and their families will go with me. She never went. Her “someday” never came.
The other upset came about 6 months after my in-laws death. I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called dermatomyositis. The diagnoses came 8 years after I first started to go to doctors about sudden weakness in my muscles. I was glad that I was not completely crazy and there was something going on but it was, and still is, also scary for me. I'm not the only one in our group with an autoimmune disorder either. Sunniva was diagnosed awhile ago with multiple sclerosis.
All this together has caused us to rethink our road trip plans. I did not want this dream of ours to never come to pass. I don’t want to wait until everything lines up perfectly for us to go, because that never happens. It’s never the right time. "Someday" never comes, we only have today.
We want to make this a reality and we want our kids to be a part of it. We want them to experience all the cultural and geographical differences these two amazing countries have to offer. We want them to do it while they are young enough to enjoy traveling with their families and old enough to remember what they experience. We want what they would learn in school to come to life in real situations: using real life math by figuring out gas mileage, reading maps, using a compass, not just reading about historic places, but visiting them.
I understand that logistically we can’t take off today or tomorrow and hope everything works itself out. But we are actively planning this trip. Our projected date to leave is June 29th, 2016. We have a route, a cost list, RV’s, the beginnings of a packing list and the start of the funds needed saved.
You always hear or read sayings like: "learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow", "don't put off tomorrow what you can do today", "seize the day", "live in the moment". That's what we are trying and hoping to do. This last year has reinforced for us the importance of family and spending time valuing one another. We are going on this road trip to do just that. Be with each other. Value each other.
~Rachel
While we were cleaning out my in-laws house I found something that reminded me about the only real dream I remember my mother-in-law talking about. Since she was a young teenager she had had a dream to backpack around Europe. She wanted to go with her husband or her kids and travel all over, staying in B&B's and experiencing all the Europe could offer. Her trip was always postponed because of time, money, kids, life. The last time I talked to her she said “someday” I’ll go and maybe my kids and their families will go with me. She never went. Her “someday” never came.
The other upset came about 6 months after my in-laws death. I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called dermatomyositis. The diagnoses came 8 years after I first started to go to doctors about sudden weakness in my muscles. I was glad that I was not completely crazy and there was something going on but it was, and still is, also scary for me. I'm not the only one in our group with an autoimmune disorder either. Sunniva was diagnosed awhile ago with multiple sclerosis.
All this together has caused us to rethink our road trip plans. I did not want this dream of ours to never come to pass. I don’t want to wait until everything lines up perfectly for us to go, because that never happens. It’s never the right time. "Someday" never comes, we only have today.
We want to make this a reality and we want our kids to be a part of it. We want them to experience all the cultural and geographical differences these two amazing countries have to offer. We want them to do it while they are young enough to enjoy traveling with their families and old enough to remember what they experience. We want what they would learn in school to come to life in real situations: using real life math by figuring out gas mileage, reading maps, using a compass, not just reading about historic places, but visiting them.
I understand that logistically we can’t take off today or tomorrow and hope everything works itself out. But we are actively planning this trip. Our projected date to leave is June 29th, 2016. We have a route, a cost list, RV’s, the beginnings of a packing list and the start of the funds needed saved.
You always hear or read sayings like: "learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow", "don't put off tomorrow what you can do today", "seize the day", "live in the moment". That's what we are trying and hoping to do. This last year has reinforced for us the importance of family and spending time valuing one another. We are going on this road trip to do just that. Be with each other. Value each other.
~Rachel
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