Transitions
On the weekend we uncovered the caravan. For the last couple of months it has been sitting in our driveway, its protective cover making it look like a huge grey elephant. Uncovered now, it is gleaming inside and out thanks to a massive clean up effort on our return to Melbourne in late January. This week we have begun to think about yurting again, all be it for a short time – one week in Daylesford and one week in Ocean Grove. It felt good to be back inside the van, packing things into their familiar places and anticipating a return to some freedom and mobility.
The transition from urban life to yurting is so much easier than the other way around. We anticipate with joy, packing up and heading off, but it is usually with heavy hearts that we return. We were both surprised by how long it took to readjust to urban life after two months on the road. For many weeks we both lacked energy or enthusiasm for life and work. We yearned for what we had left behind.
Now, urban life is once again the norm; busy, full, energetic, fast paced…. Colin continues to travel for work (though not as much as last year thankfully), school, uni and work lives co-exist in a house that is sometimes like a train station. People come and go, eat, sleep and shower and yet in the middle of it all, live, love, laugh and learn.
It is ironic that sometimes it feels like we are too busy to really savour the anticipation of going. The packing and getting ready is scheduled in amidst the myriad of daily and weekly activities. It is not until we drive away, arrive, set up and sit on our chairs with a drink in hand that we finally breathe deeply and slow down. The first few days we tend to still ‘do’ lots of things until the body and mind transition from fast to slow.
It feels like two different lives and we are finding that the transition from one to the other has its challenges. We want (and need) to experience both though, so we are going to have to live through the transition time as well. I wonder if it will get easier the more we do it ?
Wherever we are, our other life seems like a dream. We cannot transpose one on the other, nor are they totally isolated and separate. We are the link, the living breathing reality present one to the other. Each experience of life leaves an indelible ‘mark’. We are shaped and changed by our experiences. We carry with us backwards and forwards, from one experience of life to another, the ever increasing ’marks’ that are now a part of us.
We have 48 hours to savour going, a few days of transition, some yurting time and then another few days of transition on our return. The choice we have made to pursue yurting sometimes causes us pain, challenges us, creates unsettling periods of transition……. and allows us to feel alive. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
How do you guys manage to get away? Seriously, we wish to do the same but can’t. Is it just this time of life, with children aged 17, 14 and 11? Will it be easier next year? Why do I feel as if the clever people in life have walked away from this rat race and carved a vegie patch in the hinterlands? Great to see you guys setting a good example. luv D&K
Hi Dave and Katie,
Hope you guys are going well. Interesting isn’t it how many people want more from life than their ‘city’ experience. Not that I would want to give it up entirely – I’m not ready for the whole sea change thing, but doing something that gives us a different perspective feels life giving somehow. It is also interesting the different ways that people try to achieve this.
One of the reasons for sticking with the hard work of running a small business is the opportunity to be flexible – in the end we realised that we just needed to make a decision and do it and then do our best to deal with the consequences of our decision – of which there have been plenty, some anticipated and some not. The kid’s factor is real and has required some creative and compromising solutions. Only Johanna is with us at the moment, Zac and Heidi still have classes at uni and Rachel is in Central Australia doing some voluntary work. They will join us for a few days over Easter.
Have some fun dreaming…. Who knows where you may end up!