There’s no place like home…. By Vicky Dal Molin
My last post was all about time management (or seeming lack thereof in my life these days). So what happens when you take that time-poor existence and then try and transport it with a 2 year old half way around the world?
Well effectively more poor time management but what I think was the trip of a lifetime for us both and certainly a learning experience for myself. So Aussie Mum and her American Kid head off to Australia a couple of weeks ago. Just the 2 of us. Aussie Mum will admit she was completely terrified of traveling alone with overly rambunctious and prone to way too many tantrum child on the cusp of this 2 year birthday. I should have been terrified…. Traveling with a child is truly a new level of difficult and uncomfortable – but I will tackle topic another time. Today – it’s about “coming home”. (queue sappy music and tissues).
It had been 19 months since I had trekked to Australia with then a 4 month old quiet little angel (I say that now…. maybe wasn’t saying that during that long journey back then). And I admit between feelings of terror about the trip itself I was nervous and scared3 as to how my son would react to being in Australia – especially knowing so many people wanted to meet him and spend time with him.
Talk about wasted worry cycles (and probably a couple more worry lines). As we approached the town I was born the level of excitement in my son rose. Helped that I was doing my “crazy high pitched mum excited voice” that has proven results in an equal level of “I don’t know why my mum is squealing in that crazy high pitched voice but it’s contagious” excitement. Right off the plane it was running into the arms of the family – and it didn’t stop there. The level of comfort and ability to adapt to the new environment by my son was impressive and made me proud of the little guy. It was like we were truly “home” and he went from an overly uptight, tantrum throwing 2 year old to a happy, helpful and as always charming little guy. Or was it I that went from a usually overly stressed over worked over tired person to the more relaxed person I at least felt I was? I think it was an element of both.
So what does this tell you about home and love and family. Well I always believed in the somewhat cheesy saying “home is where the heart is” so for me – my home has always been scattered around the globe. Hearts are wonderful like that. And this only went show me that we may be on the other side of the world – but my heart – and now the heart of my son really is in pieces around the globe. And that no matter how long apart or how far we live away from our family that the love and connection and the bonds of family tie us all together.
It will not be 19 months until our next trip – I doubt it will even be 9 months. There’s too much value and too much we will miss not visiting more. But I now know – which I was so worried about before – that even if time or circumstance prohibits us from more regular visits – that we will always be close because there is so much love there. Plus how else will he learn all about the finer points of being an Aussie boy and will make him smile quite this much?
Family Time Laughs
Tags: 35+ mom, Aussie, Australian in America, Living abroad, motherhood later, New York City, raising a family, raising a son, son, toddler, toddlers, travel
