50 Days On The Road – Loving It Or Hating It?

Every night I do this thing where I update my Instagram (and Facebook) with a new post of what we did that day.  Sometimes it’s really difficult to select just 10 images from our incredible day exploring a new place.  Some days it’s difficult to find even one decent picture because all we did was work and shout at each other.  But I love doing these wrap up posts.  They help me to settle my mind after the day, to process everything and also connect with you guys.

Anyway, in my post a couple nights ago, I realised that we have have spent a whole 50 days on the road already.

Fifty is such a serious number.  It’s half of a hundred.  It’s not like 36 which just sounds like how many tomatoes go into a bottle of tomato sauce.  50 is real.  It hits home a bit.

So are we enjoying it?  Or do we regret doing this?

Well, as with everything it’s not a clear cut answer.  I have days where I wake up, look out at the view or think about what we’re planning to do and see that day and just get such an overwhelming sense of “YES” that it blows me away.  Or when I sit with the kids and see them grapple with an issue or learn something new, I just think that I’m glad it was me and not someone else who helped them through it.  Or that we all navigate trying out new things together.  A lot of new things.  Every day.  It really just makes my heart sing that we get to do this.

Our South Africa is just incredibly beautiful and rich with culture and heritage.  I mean, I knew that before we left, but I had never really seen any of it for myself.  We’re often just so caught up in our unnecessarily busy lives to see it.  I was there.  Every weekend was another kids party or obligation, often ones that I created for myself on purpose.  Do you think that we went for hikes in Cape Town?  I can count on one hand how many we did.  Before this adventure, seeing our town consisted of visiting different restaurants!  Nothing wrong with that, because I love me a good restaurant, but there’s so much more out there.  We take what’s around us for granted.

We have all grown over the last two months.  In so many ways.  From how to deal lovingly with each other when we’re feeling grumpy (still working on this one) to being thoughtful and caring of everyone’s space and needs.  We have a lot of growing still to do in those areas but it is really something quite incredible to be with each other every day.  In a good way.

Obviously there are things that I miss.  A whole list of them in fact.  And the hard days can be so mind blowingly difficult that I think I have cried more in the last two months than I have in the entire last year.  It’s intense.  Everything is more intense.  Move days are hella stressful – getting to a new place on dodgy roads, finding it, setting up.  Living in a small space is also intense.  Not actually as bad as I thought it was going to be but still, it’s small.  The constant making one thing into another to be able to use it wears thin quickly.  The other huge stress for me is connectivity and work.  It’s really difficult to juggle it.  It’s hectic on the whole.  Emotions seem to be way closer to the surface than they were before.  But we deal with it.  Because life in a normal house and living situation is difficult too.

All in all, I think that this has been beyond worth it so far.  We have seen things in the last 2 months that we would never have seen in our sheltered lives in Cape Town.  We have realised how little we really need to be happy.  Which is huge for me.  I was all about “stuff” before we left.  But the other day driving behind Optimus I just thought, hey everything we need is in there, why do I even still have all my stuff safely locked up in our storage unit at StoreSmart?  We should just sell it.  Which I would never have said 3 months ago, I saved everything.  The 637 mugs that we never use because we have our 2 faves that we only drink out of.  I wonder what I’m going to think when we get back to Cape Town next year.

This adventure really is just that, an adventure.  We don’t always know what’s coming but we deal with it together.  We enjoy it together.  And that makes it all worth it for me.