With only 3 weeks left in our journey, thoughts of going back to reality slowly creep in. We've been living in some sort of suspended reality for the past 2 months, I'm afraid that our suburban Sydney life will hit us like a slap in the face.
The thought of taking on the role of taxi driver to the kids' sporting activities, the bills that need to be paid, easing Cat and Bee back into their schools, running the business with Mig at home with me. In a way I'm looking forward to going back with renewed energy and perspective on things - like the fact that our family really doesn't need so much crap to be happy nor do we necessarily need a 4-bedroom house. I guess I've known this for a while but the past 3 months travelling and living out of 2 suitcases proves it. On the other hand, I ask myself how I can go back to the same, crazy, frenetic way of life we were living before the trip after seeing what we've seen, being where we've been.
I'm more grateful now for the fact that I can call Australia home. For all the whinging and whining that goes on, I now realise how polite and disciplined Australian society is as a whole. Grateful for the efficiency of the system, the work-ethic, the laws, the general respect for and enforcement of those laws. Not to mention a great way of life that respects an employee's work-life balance allowing them to take 4 months off from work to actually enjoy life. Some may see it as lazy, I think it's smart. Early in my advertising career, a former boss once told me that the team's work ethic was 'Work hard, play hard'. This has stayed with me and I like to think that Australian society lives by that same motto.
It's easy to take all this for granted when it's the way of life you've grown accustomed to and you think the rest of the developed world operates in much the same way. Now I find it's not necessarily so.
Then there are other things that need reconciliation. I find peace in the countryside, yet we live in and are dependent on a big city. I'd like to simplify our lives, yet we are living in one of the most expensive cities. Sydney is no doubt one of the world's prettiest cities, and we are now paying the price for it. Travelling through Europe makes me realise just how expensive Sydney has become. People said Austria was expensive, yet my jaw didn't drop with the prices. It's on par with Sydney...sometimes cheaper.
These are the things I need to reconcile in my head and heart when returning back to our reality.
