Progress Report
Usually when people ask us where we are heading next, the reply is a long and somewhat vague list of countries, sights, plans. But this week in China, our answer is…. um, Korea. And then home.
This answer is shockingly short to me. How can it be that there is just one more country? Did we really already do all those things and go all those places and meet all those people? I am surprised that the answer is yes.
It is coming — the return is inevitable.
Things I crossed off my list this week include scheduling summer pediatrics appointments, calling the dentist, reactivating school enrollment (what?? the middle schooler doesn’t want to continue homeschooling?), pre-ordering camp tshirts, faxing health insurance forms.
So as July approaches with its school placement tests and medical assessments, my mind easily drifts to evaluate our “progress” this year, as it were. There has been lots of it! But since the boys’ notebooks are in the checked luggage that was lost somewhere between Guangzhou and Beijing (drat!!), instead of evaluating their schoolwork this week, I’ve been laughing about our seeming LACK of progress in some other areas.
We are not the well-oiled traveling machine I thought we would be by now. Practice apparently does NOT make perfect.
We still get uptight and snippy while we are packing. People still argue about who will carry what and whether that bag really needs to go through the security screening. Our water bottles still get confiscated at security checkpoints (and our peanut butter once). Can anyone make their bed without being asked? Should your wet towel be left on the floor in the middle of the room? At what point will the instinct kick in to make eye contact with an adult while they are asking your questions? In addition to being involuntarily separated from our belongings by either thieves or airlines, we routinely manage to leave a thing or two behind on our own volition. Several of us still bite our fingernails.
And it seems most of us will be returning home half-learned and out of shape, with increasingly worse handwriting.
But ah, we do have some stories to tell — And we have another whole country to gather more. Onward!
Hi Suby….I have seen you in action…. for 3 weeks…. in my home….you are more well oiled than you give yourself credit. Yes….we shared our mutual “messiness” of life but….. I saw your boys eyeballs when they greeted me, I saw the honor they gave to their parents when celebrating birthdays, I heard thank yous and pleases and we have never had so much wonderful laughter and joy around our dinner table. I MISS YOU!!…..all of you!
It’s a fact apparent to all of us who’ve been tracking with you through all of the ups and downs of this grand adventure: you know how to flex and bend and stay strong faaar more than you realize. I wonder how the predictability of life back here (you mean today we basically do the same thing as yesterday? and all in ENGLISH?) will strike you in your year-long earned traveler’s skin…but it’s what is inside that makes the quality of one’s day mostly, no? And I think that will DELIGHT you, as a person, and as a family. Can’t wait to watch! We are counting the days for your return!
HILARIOUS! We typically have some extra wet towels strewn about if you need extras when you get back!
I cannot believe how quickly this year of adventure has gone by. I have enjoyed all of your posts so much, Your boys have learned so much and grown so much during this year….what’s a few wet towels and sloppy handwriting??? What wonderful parents you and Jim are, I am so impressed!
Such wonderful perspective that I plan to tuck away and revisit when we return from what I will inevitably expect to be life-changing travel. Life changes in so MANY ways, perspective is tilted in less tangible ways. It’s our habits that follow us through it all. Bravo!
Gigi and i have been traveling together for well over 50 years and are just as well-oiled:
uptight? check
snippy? check
lost things? check
shoes in middle of floor? check
sometimes uncomfortable with other person’s behavior in public? check
8 things that don’t fit in the carry-on? check
chug bottle of water at gate so security doesn’t confiscate favorite plastic bottle? check
STILL EXCITED ABOUT THE JOURNEY? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
The family (or individual) who sees no need for further progress is either delusional or has set their goals way too low.