Today, I am the proudest mum, a heartbroken mum, and an inspired mum.
As we sort through our belongings, our “stuff” and sell it or donate it, and get closer to our journey of living on the road and exploring Australia, I question so much about my dreams and my goals for our little family. I question the validity of our desire to work our way around the country without a bricks and mortar home to return to, and how this amazing journey will affect, or is affecting our children.
Our dream, is to give our children a spectacular life. A life that showers them with the beauty of the amazing country in which we live. A life that inspires them to truly believe that anything is possible, and that they can achieve it. A life that sees them blossom into amazing teens and adults who have an appreciation and respect for mankind and the amazing earth and it’s creatures that sustain us.
Making dreams come true requires sacrifice, and our dream is no different.
As with anything in life, a big change requires big decisions and a certain degree of sacrifice. So as our process of decision making and sacrifice shapes our lives over the next few months, it’s the new task of selling all of our belongings that really brings the gravity of our decision to life.
Parting with the things that have shaped, and still do shape our lives forces a type of self analysis that may ever be undertaken otherwise.
Even the most mundane, boring item brings with it a sense ofย past memories. Letting go of our house full of mementos, serves of a stark reminder of the reality of our decision and how it is and will shape the lives of our children. I truly believe that our children will have an amazing experience travelling and exploring, living on the road, and they are so excited about the journey that lays ahead. As a mother, watching them make decisions about leaving behind their “things” and put trust into our judgement that this radical change will be worth it is just inspiring!
Goodbye Pets
One of the things we’ve had to begin parting with, are our pets. Our dog will be travelling with us, but we’ve also had reptiles since the kids were tiny. Rehoming them is not too difficult, most of our snakes were Matt’s, so the kids had no real emotional attachment to them, but their bearded dragons, and Jackson’s python were different all together.
Jackson was very happy his carpet python went to a new home with kids to enjoy him, and he’s looking for the right child to pass his bearded dragon on to. I watched as he readied the cage so I could take some photos to email, and held his pet with such pride so he could show it to the prospective buyer.
I watched with pride, and realised just how mature he was being over this entire process . “You’re being very brave about having to sell your pets mate, are you ok?” I asked him. “Yes mum, I just have to trust that it will all be worth it” was his reply.
Well at that moment, the gravity of what this journey means to our children really hit me. I’m sure we’ll give them memories of this amazing country that will be the envy of many others. I’m proud because they “get” the dream and understand the possibilities, I’m heartbroken because of the unknown and seeing them having to be so brave, and I’m inspired that they do, truly understand the magical possibilities that lay before us!
I hope however, with all my heart, that they do truly believe that leaving this life, and all our things is worth it!
What a lovely story! I can see why you’re so proud ๐
Thanks Victoria. Being that Jackson is only 9, he’s approaching this massive change with such maturity and excitement. I always joke that our kids will either look back fondly at their strange parents who left it all behind to drag them around the country, or they’ll think we were loonies. Either way I’m sure they’ll have some stories to tell when they’re older ๐
Hi Loreena,
I’m doing my research, and as it turns out you are part of it. We have been in the process of culling possessions, all bedrooms have had two waves thus far. Currently making a list in my head of what will be kept for our return. We have several pets too, dog, budgie, rabbit & would you believe a bearded dragon too! I think we have found a new home for the dog and will attempt to do the same for the budgie & rabbit, and think it will be easy however we seem attached to strike the dragon, he’s still our baby only 18 months old
You are so right about the kids, when we as parents are excited about a dream I guess it becomes contagious and children come on board too. Our three children have culled 85% of their rooms, we have the collection placed aside for a garage sale at a latter date.
We plan on renting our home out and at this stage our trip will be 12 -18 months. We’ll see once on the road. Our kids at present are 13,11& 8. I can’t believe how excited we all are, we are ready to leave now, however there is still lots to do and the key is timing. We are planning to be on the road by Jan next year. Leaving Bunbury WA
Thanks so much for sharing this page and I look forward to meeting you on the road. Here’s to a bigger brighter life.
Ness
Hey Ness, thanks so much for dropping by ๐
I TOTALLY understand what you mean about wanting to leave now! We’re so lucky to have had some great trips around the country in the past, including some nice ones this year, but right now, we’re ready to be heading off indefinitely, and all the sorting out, selling things and other issues that come with that is just mundane and frustrating! You sound more organised than me, our focus has been on selling the business so much, that we haven’t really kicked into full gear with the house yet, but the time is fast approaching that I can’t ignore it much longer lol ๐ I was so happy to come here and see your comment, I LOVE sharing the excitement with other families. As a dream, it’s an overwhelming one to have and to accomplish, sometimes leaves me wondering if what we’re doing is right, but then we get to connect with other amazing families and it makes me know it’s the right thing and just how wonderful it’s going to be out on the road, meeting people and hopefully making life long friends with families as wonderfully crazy as ours ๐ Please do keep in touch either via the blog, or over on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/LittleAussieTravellers x
Hi Ness, not sure you’ll even receive this reply but I was interested in the ages of your kids plus the length of time you are travelling and in particular what you’ll be doing about educating your kids, particularly the older ones. My oldest is about to turn 11 and will be starting high school in the year 2014. Would love to travel for a year but am umming and ahhring about the whole secondary school thing which, in my own mind (but could possibly be a non event) seems to be a bigger fish to fry.
Loreena, I’ve been devouring your website and still kicking myself we didn’t meet at Problogger!
Oh Lisa, I wish we’d have met up too! It was so hard wasn’t it! Making the decision to travel is such a tough thing. We’re finding it quite confronting now we’re so close to leaving, but I still wouldn’t change our decision no matter how uncomfortable and vulnerable it makes me feel! If you don’t feel up to homeschool, you can actually do distance education while you travel which means the kids will be following the curriculum that’s provided directly from a Distance Ed school. it’s a little less flexible but will help if you’re really unsure. I personally think as long as you’re keep up with Maths/English they will slot back in with the rest of the things they learn and learn amazing things that they wouldnt’ in a classroom anyway x
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the message. Our children are presently 13,11 & 8. In 2013 they will be in year 9,7 & 4. We will be educating via SIDE WA. We plan on being on the road for 12-18 months. I agree the prospect of educating to meet the standard you would hope for via normal school is very daunting however I also believe this is an opportunity to broaden our children’s knowledge & growth beyond conventional school. There are also some fb pages ” travelling with kids ” & ” families on the road ” which are very friendly and informative. I have learnt so much from these pages and feel more prepared as topics are raised and discussed. I hope this helps. When are you heading off?
Cheers
Ness
I am so happy to have just discovered your blog tonight. What an adventure you’re off on! You’re living my husband’s dream. Unfortunately due to some significant health issues, this is probably a fair way away for us but I am looking forward to sharing your family’s journey and am so happy you’re going to share it.
A new fan.
Melissa
Thanks so much for visiting Melissa ๐ I do pop into your blog sometimes, but I’m always in a rush so I don’t get to comment on all the lovely blogs I read much! I can’t wait to be able to blog more here, I wanted to have put so much up here by now, but when you’re selling your life up and still dealing with business stuff and homeschool etc it tends to take up lots of time! I hope you guys get your chance, and in the meantime I hope we can find some really awesome places that are super great for families and we can let everyone know about them so those who aren’t quite as crazy as us (or able to) can still do short trips and get out and see some amazing parts of the country. I look very forward to sharing our journey with you, Loreena xx