Fast Forward

I left the blog in Quebec City...
oops, my bad.

Several long days of traveling later and we are back in Alberta (short version - Ottawa, very cool. Ontario is huge! It took three solid days of driving across it to finally reach Manitoba. A brief stop at Grand Beach and a visit with an old friend in Winnipeg, a couple days to visit with family in Saskatchewan, and then a long drive day into Alberta... I'll try to do the long versions of these at some point...)

We've come full circle, actually ending up in the same campground we started out in. Exact same camp site too.
Talk about deja vu.
So much is different and so much is the same.

This past week has been a whirlwind of craziness, frustration, and stress.

It seems like this is the end of our travels. That's what everyone around us assumes. That's what Bob is wanting.
It's also what I am not ready happy to accept. I had the next (at least) 6 months kinda planned out. I knew where I wanted to be, and how I was going to tackle homeschool with two kids, keeping track of other traveling families I wanted to catch up with, and all sorts of stuff.

Instead, here we are, trying to figure out where to live, what school the kids are going to go to (public school starts Sept 2nd!), jobs, what to do about (and with) the trailer, and all the myriad details that come with an abrupt transition to an entirely stationary and school/work scheduled life.

I'm having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around this. Especially since in my heart I really don't want to. I want to keep traveling and exploring the world. This past year has taught me I'm a gypsy at heart. Everywhere and nowhere is home, and I kind of like it that way.

But it's hard not to want the best for my family, when they are so enthusiastic for it. The kids were just so darned excited to be back in familiar territory, and see friends and family. They both asked repeatedly where we were (Are we in Alberta yet? Are we at Calgary yet? Where are we now?...), and if they thought Grandma would be excited to see them (the answer of course was Yes! I heard "How soon will we get to Grandma's?" a lot on our drive.).
No matter what I'd prefer, my family comes first.

And so, I'll deal with the stress, and frustration, and figure it all out.
I guess I'll be embarking on a slightly different adventure for the next while.
(But, I will always keep my plan B waiting in the wings.)

if you look back at last July's entries, this spot might look familiar