It's been a year and a half since the last time I traveled to California. The last time I boarded a states-bound Air New Zealand flight it was on a compationate fare to deal with my unexpectedly dying father.
So I must admit that I had some mixed feelings when we loaded up the car and headed to the airport. It has been a year and a half, and we've been on several trips since then, so traveling wasn't the issue. It was returning to the land that I grew up in, but this time without my parents to give me a homecoming. The weeks leading up to the trip saw me either stewing about past events or busily trying not to think about the trip. Not my usual prepared self.
So I must admit that I had some mixed feelings when we loaded up the car and headed to the airport. It has been a year and a half, and we've been on several trips since then, so traveling wasn't the issue. It was returning to the land that I grew up in, but this time without my parents to give me a homecoming. The weeks leading up to the trip saw me either stewing about past events or busily trying not to think about the trip. Not my usual prepared self.
But real life is always a good reality check. The "quiet moments" that I got to sit and stew are few and far between. I am hardly alone in this world, traveling with my loving husband and four kids in tow and they surround me with a love that will break through any malaise.
And, for the first time in my adult life, we are heading to California for a family reunion, so I'm not entirely sure why it was so hard for me to see past the pain and not realize the good! With all the loss in the previous year this new generation has decided to make a claim on our family and reunite for some long overdue bonding time. Cousins galore for my troupe and hopefully the closure that I didn't even realize that I needed.
So here go the jet engines. California here we come!
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