Mother's Day

I found this week's episode of Rick Steves podcast both touching and inspiring, especially the first half. He begins with a tribute to his mother, who passed away this winter, thanking her for planting the travel seed in him. Following is an interview with Jennifer Wilson, who wrote Running Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia in Search of Who We Are, Where We Came From, and What Really Matters. I greatly look forward to reading (on my new e-reader, my awesome unexpected Mother's Day gift!)

Regardless of if we are able to move abroad at this point in our lives, planting the seed is certainly something that I hope to accomplish. Jennifer Wilson and her family took a break when her children were 4 and 7. If our kids end up being educated in the US, I do dream of taking a break when they are about middle school age and "home schooling" them on the road for a while, when they are an impressionable age. Rick Steves mentioned his first trip with his mother was when he was 14. I feel lucky that our son will be older than our daughter since, sorry boys, girls tend to be more mature at an earlier age.

My thinking is generally that James and our baby girl will learn the social things and become as prepared for middle and high school as elementary school does, but that a year seeing the world at that impressionable time would be very eye opening. Plus, it would hopefully be at a time when they are still young enough to be under our wing somewhat, but will be exercising independent thinking. When they return to their education, we can keep the option open for a more independent experience as a high school study abroad student, if they are interested.

I know many people baulk at the cost of such things, but I like how Jennifer Wilson talked about prioritizing family expenses in the interview mentioned above. Maybe I should mention, that I have been inspired by the '7-year sabbatical movement.' I have little faith that people of my generation will be getting social security, so I plan on working as long as I'm physically capable. But, I would like to take breaks at least every decade to enjoy, especially since that's about how often people of my generation are expected to change jobs, since working for the same company for life seems to be a thing of the past.

Ah, so many ways to actively/experientially inspire little ones to be global citizens - now if we can only nail down our more immediate shorter term plans!