Our travel adventure thus far has involved spending a lot of time with family and friends. While this was not our intentional focus, it has turned out to be a welcome bonus to our location independent wanderings.
Actually, the nature of our travels at this early stage has not been all that different from what Jeremy and I would have done had we had a home base. With my entire village being in Colorado (and by that I mean the "village" needed to keep a 50-something gal looking and feeling her best--doctor, dentist, hair stylist, etc.) I always make a springtime pilgrimage to Denver for visits to these and other service providers. So, heading off to CO to stay and hang out with my kids wasn't exactly considered living the high life of travel.
Then, as coincidence would have it, my brother announced his upcoming wedding in Minnesota, so this past weekend, we (and by "we," I mean the usual assortment of siblings, nieces, nephews, in-laws, kids and grandkids) all jetted off to Minneapolis to participate in the festivities.
These are things I would have done anyway--Happily Homeless or not. They have nonetheless added to our travel perspectives and taught Jeremy and me a thing or two--as this adventure is intended to do. They have in fact, helped us determine where our next hat-hanging spot will be. More on that later.
It's easy to delude oneself that Skype video chats, emails, Facebook, and phone calls are the equal of in-person visits. And indeed, they might come close--if the Skype video were left on all day, or emails flew back and forth incessantly. But since that is not practical, we use what we have when we can. And so interactions with family and friends have become reduced to a series of instant messages, texts, video chats, phone calls and emails. However, it is only when I am in the actual presence of those that I care about that I enjoy the full benefits of true companionship and emotional closeness.
By hanging out with my kids and grandkids since the beginning of this month, I hear about their daily interactions and trials, laugh with them a lot more and have more in-depth conversations. I speak frequently with my sons-in-law, who tend to be more in the background when I video chat with my daughters, but are definitely in the foreground in real life. When I am with my adult children, I fall easily into the Mom role--a role that I love but one that subsides when I am apart from them. Bethany hates tomatoes, don't even think about serving Joel a mushroom. Alyssa only likes soft cookies, not crisp ones, and Jason...(oh hell--Jason eats anything). I don't even have to think about these preferences; they occur to me naturally.
I cook, dispense advice (which is asked for much more often when I am in closer proximity), laud praise, remind, clean up the kitchen, snuggle with my grandchildren and remind everyone not to forget their metaphorical lunch money. I'm a mom...it's what I do.
I enjoy being around for the little things.
In the same way, spending a three day weekend with my extended family offers a glimpse into their lives that I don't get when miles separate us. (Note: for the sake of family harmony, I will use only first initials when talking about family members other than those already introduced in this blog.) My nephew J makes me laugh until milk (okay--wine) snorts out of my nose, niece B shows me her new bedroom and I see firsthand her talent for decorating and utilizing color creatively and harmoniously. We tease nephew J (the other J nephew--there's two of 'em) about his emerging gray hairs while thinking, "How the hell can this be? Didn't I just change his diaper like a couple of years ago?!?" (Note that nephew J, who expressed his enjoyment of this blog several times over the past few days, is probably right now ruing his encouragement of me to "keep up the blogging." LOL. However, I'm sure his wife, J, will enjoy these comments immensely. Yep--she's a J, too.)
So when brother J (Seriously? Another J? Can they get any more boring?) mentioned that he has an extra townhome on his hands (new wife=new life=new home=gotta do something with the old one), Jeremy (we do not need to call him J as you already know all about him and besides, this is getting ridiculous) and I offered to rent it from him for a couple of months until our next house-sitting assignment. It seems like a win/win for all parties involved. I'm wildly excited about spending time with my brother and his family--time separate from weddings, funerals, graduations and other cram-it-all-in-in-a-weekend events. And while I've visited Minnesota for said events over the years, as well as for some consulting work I did there in another life, I've never actually stayed there long enough to explore it.
And so, on to the next chapter of our adventure--in a little while--we'll let J and B (Phew! he did not marry a J) return from their honeymoon first. A stint in Minnesota was not what we'd intended or planned for, nor was spending time with my extended family. But, as we suspected when we started out on this journey, opportunities and ideas present themselves from out of the blue. And since my 2011 theme is "Connection," it makes perfect sense to me that the Universe has placed me in close proximity to those with whom it wants me to connect.
I can't wait to share in the little things. I might even change my name to Jacinda! Jackie? Jana?
Maureen Thomson and Jeremy Myers are a husband and wife team offering professional housesitting services worldwide. Visit our HouseSitting Couple website for more information.
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