We've been pretty busy and I have been in an otherwise bad place for the past few months.
When we started the roadschool journey this past summer I was pretty determined to plan everything and organize our travel plans diligently. One thing I learned rather quickly was planning is a bad idea or that plans don't always work. Things can change quickly. It can be a case of food poisoning in the desert, an otherwise unplanned event, even weather.
In October, we planned to spend Lex's third birthday visiting Nebraska. Days before leaving our dog had her standard six month check up and had lost weight. A lot of weight though I suppose that is subjective. While we were waiting on lab results we had to cancel the trip. Thankfully, an amazing friend and mom we know locally offered to watch Blizzard so we could get away for a night to Colorado Springs. It meant a lot to us. Particularly, because we didn't realize how difficult it would be for her to merge into a new environment... This friend is a rock star.
We thought those issues would be resolved by November but they were not. We cancelled Athena's birthday trip to New Mexico. She handled it with grace and maturity. When we asked what she wanted to do for her birthday she simply asked to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for the Whales exhibit again. Wish granted.
During December we spent time evaluating what we would like to see change in the new year... One of the things I really wanted to see change was relationships. We had been maintaining a toxic relationship for a year. Yes, a year.
The obvious choice was to cut ties but as parents, relationships we have impact our children and not always in a positive light. We opted to keep the relationship at an arms length... which had been working until this fall when circumstances made it difficult to do so. As passive aggressive e-mails increased and Athena became increasingly uncomfortable around the adult, we made the choice to "delete" the person from our lives. After all, a seven year old should not be afraid to have a birthday party because she does not want to invite one child.
Now that it is done. I feel safe. Safe is the best way to describe this. The negativity this person was creating was horrible, there were days I felt physically sick after running into her... and dreaded running into her on the other days. Athena feels safe, she is happy to see the negativity go and wants to plan a birthday party, a little late- but I'm happy knowing she isn't afraid.
Other things we plan to change this year- our health. Until Athena was five we were the organic, non processed paleo parents at all times. Adjusting to new schedules and homeschooling threw that off for us. Half of the battle for us was meal planning and grocery lists. I can't say how many times we were running to the store because we did not have basic spices or other things in the house to make meals we planned on making.
So we signed up for MealFit. So far we are liking it. The meals are 90% paleo... though I've found we need to sub out certain things because we do not eat soy ingredients or cornstarch...
Okay, confession time: I didn't know people EAT cornstarch. I didn't know it was a food.
Otherwise, we are really going to crackdown and focus on our travel goals in the long term. Where do we want to relo to? When? Will it be temp? Will it be long term? Third world or developing/ developed world? Backpacking? Biking? RVing? We have a lot of choices and I don't think either of us want to narrow the field completely so I'm excited to see what we decide.
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