Grounded in Gratitude

After 3 weeks in Belize, I am feeling completely recharged and rejuvenated. I have been under an extremely powerful intoxicating spell of traveller’s limbo, where I am still the same person I was at home but the setting has been totally different and I have followed my heart on this journey, exploring the potential of where it would lead me / uS, in the blend of both foreign and familiar. Part of venturing to new lands inevitably involves change of some sort. I had to wonder upon our return, what would have changed in my view of Airstream living and the mobile home life that we have so loved and adored? What might have changed with me? In all honesty, I can’t emphatically say that I am thrilled about or ready to return to our Airstream in the USA just quite yet after such a big and life-changing adventure. Don’t get me wrong. We truly have a blessed life and lifestyle in this stage of our life, travelling on the road in our silver tube, partial only to the whims of our imaginations. But leaving a literal paradise was difficult and a challenge. Part of me is undeniably sad. I’ve never been one to become attached to a vacation destination, in all the years that I’ve travelled. I’ve certainly acquired favourites (Iceland for its prolific beauty, New Zealand for its understated worldliness of natural grandeur, South Africa for its wild and eccentric raw splendour). But the memories we created in Belize whilst reawakening our spirits to new heights were incredible. This to the point of literal breathtaking expansiveness. An escapade of epic proportions, jam packed full of excitement, magnificence, love and lessons. Not a day went by that I didn’t appreciate the ocean, the sand, the sun, the people and the country itself. Sea-duced by life on San Pedro and in Belize itself, fully connecting and being in the moment with where I was at. The purity of the salty sea air, the tropical grandeur and living with just the basic necessities of our current existence breathed new life in to my inner being and soul. At times, the teachings of our adventure were challenging. But we pulled through, engaging, learning, living and loving.

And return we did, with smiles as young and light as the air beneath our step. Coming home: a reawakening of sorts. To be honest, after 3 weeks away from our regulate routine and diet, I am all the more appreciative of a familiar and regular balanced diet based on inexpensive, readily available fruits and veg (something not available to us living in a hotel room with no prep facilities, utensils or containers). In Belize, refrigeration was a premium necessity to combat all the tropical guests (ants, wasps, flies, etc) and spoilage. On the Island, we had access, but on a very small scale basis. Hence, no fruit and lettuce salads for us. This injection of new appreciation for all that I often take for granted in everyday living is a necessity to the grounding of my presence in life as I know it. Gratitude fills my heart for all that I have experienced and currently have. Life is abundant, bountiful and filled with many blessings. I had the same sort of response and begetting of mindfulness when returning from 5 months in India and 2 months in Guatemala. Wherever we might lay our hat, we are blessed. And tuning in to that sense of inner paradise is a magnificent skill which I hope to keep coming back to. Perhaps that’s why I rely so diligently on photographs? The priceless essence of a life well-lived, loved and momentarily captured.