Now that we’ve been back home for a week, and have settled back into life in Golden, I can officially say our trip is complete. We’ve survived the re-entry phase (our easiest one so far), we’ve begun tackling our jungle of a yard, and are generally back into the ho hum of normal days.
Before I get to the trip, a quick word on re-entry. After our trip to Europe in the fall, we really struggled the first week back. In general, we tend to pile too much onto our plates when we first get back. There’s work to catch up on, friends to see, school things to volunteer for, and everything else we’ve more or less neglected for several weeks. This time, we gave ourself a week grace period to have low expectations and minimum commitments and plans. I think that made all of the difference as our bodies chipped away at overcoming the 8 hour time difference. The boys were back to normal within 4 days, and were noticeably more on schedule after 3. Jordan and I were about the same – though our approaches to jetlag vary. More on that another time.
Our 3 weeks in Innsbruck was a dream come true, literally. I’ve wanted to do an extended trip abroad for as long as I can remember, and 3 weeks is our longest to date. It’s a love story, because I got to do it with the 3 people I love the most in the entire world. But, it’s also where I realized that I am full on, head over heels, crazy about motherhood. Spending 3 weeks straight where I could focus and prioritize Ali and Jurgen above all else was such a tremendous gift. I loved living in their world and reveling in their delights. For the first time in my years as a mother, I didn’t feel pulled in two different directions — I leaned into mothering full bore. And, I adored it. While it’s not a sustainable arrangement for our family to do this in real life, it was a worthwhile lesson in chilling out and letting go of the small stuff. Travel always tends to refocus me, but this time, that refocusing sensation was stronger than normal.
Coming up:
