Planes, Trains and “Moo”

Aug.17 2010

We are here.
After twenty-four hours of Travel by Van, airplane, bus, train and one more bus we have arrived at our first destination; the ecumenical community in the Village of Taize, France. The Valley’s surrounding this village made Kathryn call France “The Sound of Music” and want me to inform her cousins that they all need to move here. Cameron is a fan of the grazing white dairy cows, which make the best cheese in the universe and takes it as his predominant calling to point at each of them on every bus or train and yell a hearty “Moo!”, but I am getting ahead of myself.

We have had an intense non-stop three months of preparation to make it to this point in our journey and the physical and mental and child-care endurance race it took to survive the trip here has demanded that Rob and I be in a type of survival auto-pilot to make it to this point. Also, WE are known as the “stable ones”. My parents live on planes, Rob’s parents live on planes, my brother commutes to Vancouver and L.A. and it is usually my other brother who I am saying goodbye to as he returns with his family to Israel.

So, when I’m at the airport, being dropped off by dear friends, and then seeing my whole family there to see us off it occurs to me that we are actually doing this. Then, my mom starts saying sweet goodbyes and my autopilot emotional -check is gone and I become a weeping basket-case. I wish the cliché of ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’ weren’t true-but it is-Family, friends, networks, neighbours, and friends. Do me a favour and go buy your mom flowers and hug everyone you love today. I know they deserve it even when you’re on auto-pilot and even when your 18-month old won’t stop yelling “Moo”.