Here and There
As I contemplate the past week’s events and try to regurgitate it into a few sensible paragraphs, I can not quite wrap my brain around the vast distance between writing a journal entry here in Macksville, New South Wales and writing last week at my dad’s in Mokena, Illinois. Yes, sitting on airplanes for almost 20 hours watching the mountains and rivers of the Western United States roll by, the waves in the Pacific Ocean, the clouds covering the waters and the full moon right outside my airplane window gave me a clue of the distance I was covering. But a real understanding of that distance I will never grasp until I take a boat across the Pacific Ocean, and it is probable that I will never embark on that journey.
One’s emotions get tied up in a season, no matter how little time one spends outdoors soaking up the season. Spring in the Midwest is wet, hopeful, smells fresh, and brings us outside to look at flowers and maybe prepare the soil for a garden. After a long cold winter with no green on most of our trees, little buds start to open on big massive dead looking branches. This pastel shade of green makes me feel light, as if I can start again, forgetting the cold loneliness of winter. Leaving the beginning of autumn behind in Australia, to arrive in this wet and hopeful blooming season in the US was quite strange. In autumn as I know it and am learning about how it happens here, typically we have had enough of the heat, we are ready to spend less time working outdoors, and come inside to cuddle by the fire. For some it is time to celebrate the end of the growing season, and enjoy the fruits of the harvest if you’re into eating local. For others it is time to prepare for the winter by killing a cow and stocking the freezer to nourish the family over the winter. For some it is dread of a cold, lonely sadness which may come with winter. For some it is time to prepare for the holidays. I guess autumn to me is a season of endings, of less available produce, and of preparation for colder days, whereas spring is a season of beginnings, light and hope for abundance. I really think that being able to buy fresh lettuce and pineapple in the dead of the winter at the grocery store throws our bodies all out of whack with the emotions of the season. This is why we will eat nothing but pumpkins, carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach and bok choy for the next few weeks, just kidding!!! We might go crazy, but seriously, I am aiming to get us eating predominantly local food in the next few years.
Since I last wrote, I’ve had the chance to catch up with my dad and step-mom Barb and play in their beautiful garden. My dad figured out the key to Jacinta’s strong will and won her heart: do not ask her if she’d like to do something, tell her what you are doing and if it sounds appealing, she will ask to join in. With only 3 days to catch up with her Grandpa or any family member for that matter, I worried that there wouldn’t be enough time for Jacinta to warm up to the love that was being offered. So as she ran off into the garden with her Grandpa that day, and Grandma the next day my heart melted watching her explore the beautiful herbs and flowers, jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone with no thought of me (for a while at least.)
My last few days in the States were spent lazing at Lecia and Ben’s, watching Baby Kai grow and Jacinta fall in love with her “tiny cousin.” It was cold and rainy and excused us from any need to go outside. We listened to music, rocked the baby, guarded Kai’s life from his giant cousin accidentally “helping” him so much that she’d squash him, drank tea, ate, packed my three huge suitcases, played with toys, read books and changed Kai’s diapers almost hourly. Kai nursed, slept, cooed, “exercised” on his “baby gym,” pooped, peed, smiled and made us all smile too.
Jess and I had lots of echinacea, tea and fluids and tried to kick our cold in preparation for the long voyage ahead. I stocked up on herbal goods from the health food store to bring back to Australia with the knowledge that they may have been confiscated by the tough Aussie quarantine authority. Jess continually pursued Kai, from assisting at diaper changes, bath time, lying with him under his baby gym, pushing his electric swing for him to yelling, “awake!!!” if he opened his eyes the slightest bit after a nap.
Perhaps the prettiest memory of our time together was watching “the kids” share the big glider chair with Kai propped up on Jess, listening to lullabies from around the world, and reading them a story book while Jess fluffed the blanket over the two of them over and over. The tastiest memory I’ll take home from Milwaukee is my last dinner there with Lecia, Ben, Kai and Jess at a Mexican restaurant. Without too much detail, I’ll just say how much I miss the warm spicy Mexican food and culture which is present in so many pockets of the US, but not here in Australia.
Again, sparing you too much detail, my three flights to arrive back in Sydney were stressful in the airports trying to find seats on later flights due to weather delays, but relaxed and wonderful during the flights thanks to the extra seat granted to us out of sheer luck and kindness on all three planes. Although I did make it back on Mother’s Day, as planned, my luggage did not. With Jess in good spirits and the knowledge that “soooon” she’d see her daddy and be “home,” we patiently waited for our bags for over an hour. Through customs, off the plane, ready to declare all of my precarious herbal goods from the US, I was given a free ticket through the line that would have kept me an hour longer and the knowledge that someone would deliver my heavy bags to Macksville, with or without the goods in question. At first I was flustered, tired, snippy and annoyed, especially as I was digging for lost documents, trying to answer questions for a kind lady who would file my lost claim for me. My bags were strewn out on the floor while Jess continually galloped away to play on the luggage carousel, and a woman said, “Happy Mothers Day!” At that point, I was still pissed off. It was only after Jess cried her way through the line, grabbing some nice customs officer’s attention who then escorted us past 200 other annoyed passengers waiting to finally escape the airport that I realized how relieved I was that I got the short line versus the declaration line minus my baggage, happy for the airline’s mistake.
Jacinta and I rejoiced to see Matt and of course he was quite pleased himself. Both Matt and I doubted that we’d meet up after a 90 minute delay following landing, but not Jacinta, she knew she’d see her daddy and she did. The smile on both hers and Matt’s faces was just gorgeous, true joy, relief and wholeness. I must admit that Matt looked like he had shrunken. I asked him if he had or if it was just that missing him made him grow in size in my mind. He said he hadn’t shrunken, so I guess it was the latter explanation. Although she’d become quite a mommy’s girl over the past month with me as her only constant support, Jess rode in Matt’s arms all day long. We visited Matt’s sister for a few hours, then joined our adopted Sydney family for a Mother’s Day lunch. This wasn’t just lunch but we also met Matt’s best friend Jenny and her husband Ted’s new baby, Jonathan Donald who was four weeks old and sweet as could be. He was “tiny” just like Baby Kai and thus familiar to Jess. After some laughter and good food, lots of fun for Jess playing with Caitlin (2) and Zack (4 or 5?), we embarked on the last leg of our long journey. Matt drove the 5 hour trip all alone while Jess and I slept, stopping a few times for caffeine. At 8pm Sunday night we arrived here in Macksville and ahhhhhhh…is it nice to be home!
We were warmly welcomed by Keith and Mary who missed Jacinta like crazy. Although she arrived crying and tired, she eventually woke up for an hour to say hello and then sleep another 10 hours. Mary had made some lovely potato leek soup, as if somehow, telepathically she knew that I was in great NEED of a warm bowl of soup. We have been here for two days now. Jess smiles and says that she is “home,” and every few minutes she rediscovers something that she missed but didn’t know it. She tells “stories” about Kai, Grandma, Dja Dja, Lecia, Ben, Otto , Iris, Grandma and Grandpa, and many other loved ones we visited. Matt notes that she gives real hugs now and squeezes his neck when he picks her up. Although we’re back and she no longer has to miss her daddy, she still asks for a “daddy song,” as she is going to sleep. Everyone just marvels at the change in her vocabulary over the past month, it definitely exploded. Michelle and Rory came and cooked lunch with us yesterday and then the Murphy’s stopped by to welcome us home, it’s been a lovely homecoming.
Jess and I of course have played in the garden and discovered great changes in the land. Matt has done some hard work clearing the site upon which we will build the little addition that we will call our own, even moving a rock wall and working in the dark with a huge nightlight. Keith and Michelle added 2 terraces to the garden and soon after Michelle planted an amazing array of vegetables. The trees look the same, and there are greens, pumpkins and root crops to eat. Iris, the remaining chick, now runs and sleeps with the big chickens, finally! The local duck population coming for seed has doubled and the turkeys still chase each other around. The air is warm in the sunlight, but gets chilly at night. After 8 weeks of no rain, it rained yesterday and today! My luggage has arrived and nothing was confiscated.
My trip home to soak up love from our community in different pockets of the US was awesome, as these two days have also been lovely. Nomadic life has its bonuses, but I guess I’m not a nomad. Right now I guess I’m a “settler,” in that I want to settle down. I am truly grateful for my friends and family everywhere and also the opportunity to live a life where I can and have to go outside each day, rain or shine, to at least feed the chickens, dump the compost and pick my lettuce.
One’s emotions get tied up in a season, no matter how little time one spends outdoors soaking up the season. Spring in the Midwest is wet, hopeful, smells fresh, and brings us outside to look at flowers and maybe prepare the soil for a garden. After a long cold winter with no green on most of our trees, little buds start to open on big massive dead looking branches. This pastel shade of green makes me feel light, as if I can start again, forgetting the cold loneliness of winter. Leaving the beginning of autumn behind in Australia, to arrive in this wet and hopeful blooming season in the US was quite strange. In autumn as I know it and am learning about how it happens here, typically we have had enough of the heat, we are ready to spend less time working outdoors, and come inside to cuddle by the fire. For some it is time to celebrate the end of the growing season, and enjoy the fruits of the harvest if you’re into eating local. For others it is time to prepare for the winter by killing a cow and stocking the freezer to nourish the family over the winter. For some it is dread of a cold, lonely sadness which may come with winter. For some it is time to prepare for the holidays. I guess autumn to me is a season of endings, of less available produce, and of preparation for colder days, whereas spring is a season of beginnings, light and hope for abundance. I really think that being able to buy fresh lettuce and pineapple in the dead of the winter at the grocery store throws our bodies all out of whack with the emotions of the season. This is why we will eat nothing but pumpkins, carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach and bok choy for the next few weeks, just kidding!!! We might go crazy, but seriously, I am aiming to get us eating predominantly local food in the next few years.
Since I last wrote, I’ve had the chance to catch up with my dad and step-mom Barb and play in their beautiful garden. My dad figured out the key to Jacinta’s strong will and won her heart: do not ask her if she’d like to do something, tell her what you are doing and if it sounds appealing, she will ask to join in. With only 3 days to catch up with her Grandpa or any family member for that matter, I worried that there wouldn’t be enough time for Jacinta to warm up to the love that was being offered. So as she ran off into the garden with her Grandpa that day, and Grandma the next day my heart melted watching her explore the beautiful herbs and flowers, jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone with no thought of me (for a while at least.)
My last few days in the States were spent lazing at Lecia and Ben’s, watching Baby Kai grow and Jacinta fall in love with her “tiny cousin.” It was cold and rainy and excused us from any need to go outside. We listened to music, rocked the baby, guarded Kai’s life from his giant cousin accidentally “helping” him so much that she’d squash him, drank tea, ate, packed my three huge suitcases, played with toys, read books and changed Kai’s diapers almost hourly. Kai nursed, slept, cooed, “exercised” on his “baby gym,” pooped, peed, smiled and made us all smile too.
Jess and I had lots of echinacea, tea and fluids and tried to kick our cold in preparation for the long voyage ahead. I stocked up on herbal goods from the health food store to bring back to Australia with the knowledge that they may have been confiscated by the tough Aussie quarantine authority. Jess continually pursued Kai, from assisting at diaper changes, bath time, lying with him under his baby gym, pushing his electric swing for him to yelling, “awake!!!” if he opened his eyes the slightest bit after a nap.
Perhaps the prettiest memory of our time together was watching “the kids” share the big glider chair with Kai propped up on Jess, listening to lullabies from around the world, and reading them a story book while Jess fluffed the blanket over the two of them over and over. The tastiest memory I’ll take home from Milwaukee is my last dinner there with Lecia, Ben, Kai and Jess at a Mexican restaurant. Without too much detail, I’ll just say how much I miss the warm spicy Mexican food and culture which is present in so many pockets of the US, but not here in Australia.
Again, sparing you too much detail, my three flights to arrive back in Sydney were stressful in the airports trying to find seats on later flights due to weather delays, but relaxed and wonderful during the flights thanks to the extra seat granted to us out of sheer luck and kindness on all three planes. Although I did make it back on Mother’s Day, as planned, my luggage did not. With Jess in good spirits and the knowledge that “soooon” she’d see her daddy and be “home,” we patiently waited for our bags for over an hour. Through customs, off the plane, ready to declare all of my precarious herbal goods from the US, I was given a free ticket through the line that would have kept me an hour longer and the knowledge that someone would deliver my heavy bags to Macksville, with or without the goods in question. At first I was flustered, tired, snippy and annoyed, especially as I was digging for lost documents, trying to answer questions for a kind lady who would file my lost claim for me. My bags were strewn out on the floor while Jess continually galloped away to play on the luggage carousel, and a woman said, “Happy Mothers Day!” At that point, I was still pissed off. It was only after Jess cried her way through the line, grabbing some nice customs officer’s attention who then escorted us past 200 other annoyed passengers waiting to finally escape the airport that I realized how relieved I was that I got the short line versus the declaration line minus my baggage, happy for the airline’s mistake.
Jacinta and I rejoiced to see Matt and of course he was quite pleased himself. Both Matt and I doubted that we’d meet up after a 90 minute delay following landing, but not Jacinta, she knew she’d see her daddy and she did. The smile on both hers and Matt’s faces was just gorgeous, true joy, relief and wholeness. I must admit that Matt looked like he had shrunken. I asked him if he had or if it was just that missing him made him grow in size in my mind. He said he hadn’t shrunken, so I guess it was the latter explanation. Although she’d become quite a mommy’s girl over the past month with me as her only constant support, Jess rode in Matt’s arms all day long. We visited Matt’s sister for a few hours, then joined our adopted Sydney family for a Mother’s Day lunch. This wasn’t just lunch but we also met Matt’s best friend Jenny and her husband Ted’s new baby, Jonathan Donald who was four weeks old and sweet as could be. He was “tiny” just like Baby Kai and thus familiar to Jess. After some laughter and good food, lots of fun for Jess playing with Caitlin (2) and Zack (4 or 5?), we embarked on the last leg of our long journey. Matt drove the 5 hour trip all alone while Jess and I slept, stopping a few times for caffeine. At 8pm Sunday night we arrived here in Macksville and ahhhhhhh…is it nice to be home!
We were warmly welcomed by Keith and Mary who missed Jacinta like crazy. Although she arrived crying and tired, she eventually woke up for an hour to say hello and then sleep another 10 hours. Mary had made some lovely potato leek soup, as if somehow, telepathically she knew that I was in great NEED of a warm bowl of soup. We have been here for two days now. Jess smiles and says that she is “home,” and every few minutes she rediscovers something that she missed but didn’t know it. She tells “stories” about Kai, Grandma, Dja Dja, Lecia, Ben, Otto , Iris, Grandma and Grandpa, and many other loved ones we visited. Matt notes that she gives real hugs now and squeezes his neck when he picks her up. Although we’re back and she no longer has to miss her daddy, she still asks for a “daddy song,” as she is going to sleep. Everyone just marvels at the change in her vocabulary over the past month, it definitely exploded. Michelle and Rory came and cooked lunch with us yesterday and then the Murphy’s stopped by to welcome us home, it’s been a lovely homecoming.
Jess and I of course have played in the garden and discovered great changes in the land. Matt has done some hard work clearing the site upon which we will build the little addition that we will call our own, even moving a rock wall and working in the dark with a huge nightlight. Keith and Michelle added 2 terraces to the garden and soon after Michelle planted an amazing array of vegetables. The trees look the same, and there are greens, pumpkins and root crops to eat. Iris, the remaining chick, now runs and sleeps with the big chickens, finally! The local duck population coming for seed has doubled and the turkeys still chase each other around. The air is warm in the sunlight, but gets chilly at night. After 8 weeks of no rain, it rained yesterday and today! My luggage has arrived and nothing was confiscated.
My trip home to soak up love from our community in different pockets of the US was awesome, as these two days have also been lovely. Nomadic life has its bonuses, but I guess I’m not a nomad. Right now I guess I’m a “settler,” in that I want to settle down. I am truly grateful for my friends and family everywhere and also the opportunity to live a life where I can and have to go outside each day, rain or shine, to at least feed the chickens, dump the compost and pick my lettuce.
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
5:17 PM
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