Dear Will and Hazel

Thank you for the million ways you made this trip incredible. I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even know how to distill the many ways I feel grateful for how you showed up for yourselves, for each other, for our family and for the world really. It’s been amazing to travel with you. Beyond my wildest imagination. You inspire me to imagine wilder :)

Even before the first flight I was grateful for your attitude and curiosity. Resistance could have come years ago when the idea was first floated. But it didn’t. A year away from school, your friends, your activities … that is a lot to give up for a lot of unknowns. In fact, you embraced something that was as unknown to your parents as it was to you. The only country we’d visited as a family was Canada. We wrote dreams and ideas in a notebook that lived on the dining room table. Eventually, as vague plans continued to stay vague you pressed us, “is this going to happen or not”. I loved that. It was not an intentional strategy to lure you into the idea of chasing summer ;) but it’s how it worked out. Our inaction bred desire, I think. Eventually in staring down your ages and calendars we realized we had to go, or we’d be on the doorstep of Will leaving home.

Thank you for leaning into so many unknowns and hard things throughout the journey. Everything was new: countries, continents, languages, accents, cultures, currencies. Some more foreign than others. Some more familiar. Some safer. You stayed curious and open. Sometimes when I felt tired or scared your fearlessness inspired me. We experienced kindness everywhere. Everywhere. You get back what you put out into the universe.

Thank you for being great travelers. Traveling is a different kind of work. You need to be aware of time zones, currency, culture and more. It’s being conscious of our impact, our voices and understanding our inability to buy and carry every stuffed animal we see and love. It’s staying on top of personal hygiene, laundry, friendships and life stuff when it’s not easy and your environment keeps changing. It’s speaking up if your needs aren’t met. But these things are all really just the foundation. Being a truly great traveler is finding a path to thrive, wherever you are. And thrive you did. Your curiosity never waned. Your confidence grew. Your bravery flourished.

Above all thank you for being kind and loving. The greatest joy was watching our family grow closer as we moved around the planet. You came into the journey close as siblings, you leave the journey even closer. Your relationship was already wholly magical to me when you were very little. I didn’t know if it was a moment-in-time thing. Now I can say it is a forever thing. You have transited so many ages and phases and this rock that is your relationship never wavers and only deepens. That kind of sibling love is very special. I know you know. You were kind and loving to your parents too :) To say I’m grateful for the time we spent together is the understatement of the century. I have longed to spend more time with you both for years. You were kind and loving to strangers too. To bear witness to your thoughtfulness and empathy is something very special. Truly and deeply.

From the bottom of this very proud Mama’s heart, I love you both and thank you. Dream big and wild my loves. Graciès.