Today I'm thankful prezzies from their Aunt whose visiting England came & started a conversation about what it's like to travel the world. I've lived this momma-life-for-too-long-now, I forget or never talk about the fact, that I lived in Switzerland, cities all over Australia & created a life in Ireland. 


I'm so swamped in the life I lead right now with three-kids-under-five, warming up my coffee twice if not three times a morning & almost too tired to brush my teeth before zonking-out-to-Netflix every night. So there just ain't a lot of reminiscing happening on my end. 



I'm not thinking about moving to a small mountain town in Frutigen, Switzerland for my penpal crush when I was 18. 



Or I'm not remembering the rush of jumping out of a plane, scuba diving with sharks or taking a shady bus tour in Morocco. 



I'm not smiling at outrageous nights like when I drew on my foot with pen and in the happy state the free-spirited-atmosphere Byron Bay brings, I then got a man about 6 feet tall, in all leather, with a grey mustache and gnawing on a toothpick, to tattoo over the pen while singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with a burly Oz accent. 




I'm not remembering the warm nights, the comfort an acoustic guitar could bring, the excitement of who you'd meet tomorrow & the ability to leap outta any comfort zone you may have had. 


When I landed in Australia, I was 20 Years old. I had just spent 3 nights in Hong Kong. Alone. With little money, only enough to get me from the airport, to the hostel I booked in Sydney. Only problem was the taxi took me to opposite end of the city to a sister hostel & I had to learn that the freaking-Australian-sun-can-melt-off-makeup-in-no-time-flat while walking to the right one in Kings Cross. My roomate was a stripper, I got asked out for the first time by another girl & once woke up on a top bunk bed to find the face of a German boy who broke into our room staring me in the eyes. #thankgodIwokeupwhenheburpedwhatsmelledlikekobassa



I then stayed & I traveled around Australia, pretending I was a hairdresser - Giving everyone the "Rachel" & highlighting with "Sun-in-type-stuff" using tin-foil from the Hostel's shared kitchens. Wasn't horrible. Wasn't great. Just gave them something different. And that's all they were seeking and all I was offering. 




Traveling was beyond fulfilling, scary at times, deeply soul searching & in my case, something I needed to do before I moved on to the rest of my life. 



So today, I'm thankful these presents came from across the pond. That they reminded me how traveling is what made me, a large part me. How it taught me lessons & independence & I'll be forever grateful those years & experiences make up my life. 



And I'm proud of my sister-in-law for doing it, I want my son to know I encourage it & I wanna give others a push if they can, to live abroad at least once in your life. 







P.S - Just cause...


While he learns to walk. She's been "spotting" him like a freaking-little-gymnastics-coach. She's there to catch him, nudges him along & claps & cheers if he takes more than three steps at a time...

#Swoon