I have not blogged in sooo long! Life has been busy and my handwritten journals have been using up all and any blogging time.
But, I don’t want to be accused of Def Lepparding! Which is my personal term to define any overly long time for completing something creative. Any true Lep fans, like myself, will understand this when they recall the panic that swept through the music industry in the mid 80’s while everyone waited…and waited…and waited for Def Leppard to complete Hysteria, a long 4 years and one lost drummer arm after Pyromania!
However, I have been determined to not do any Def Lepparding myself and with some pretty big life plans coming together for the near future, I feel it is the right time for this Metal Queen to blog a little. I am finding it hard to concentrate on anything else these days with so many things to look forward to and prepare for!
We are finally over dealing with extreme jet-lag, which lasted over a week after our return at the end of October from two months of backpacking around the UK.
This was the most epic of all of our epic car-free travelling adventures so far…and my first time going overseas to travel on my own with the children!
I am so thankful for the amount of mini-treks we made around southern coastal B.C. for the past three years, as these trips served to strengthen and prepare us for this biggie.
It reinforced my self-belief that I can do anything I set my mind to and nothing is too big or out of reach. With hope…vision…and action…it will all come together and that is exactly what happened with this journey.
We needed to step out of our everyday lives in a desperate way. The hurdles we face caring for my Mum, at 89 years old now, are becoming more than I can handle and a break was necessary as I worked out the best plan of action for our future. We needed to take a long, hard look at England as the family we are right now at ages 43, 8, 6 and 3. I needed to know if the children would want a British life as much as I do and so we began our explorations. Because I would never make them move anywhere they didn’t feel they wanted to be.
We travelled all over, from the north to the south, from the east to the west, getting housesitting jobs as a means to fully explore different areas and have a home base for weeks at a time. We also stayed in budget hotels, B&B’s and holiday cottages. I scoured the net to find the best deals on trains and buses, as well as discounted tickets to many of the attractions we visited. Financially, the whole adventure did not cost as much as I originally anticipated.
The children thrive on the stimulation of our travelling adventures and everywhere we went, the question I always asked was, “would you like to live here?” The answer was never said with certainty until we arrived in the Southwest. And if York was the intro to our travelling song, by the time we got to Cornwall, we had come to the crescendo, and it was like fireworks were going off all around us with the feelings this magical and beautiful place brought forth in us all.
My heart has belonged to Cornwall from the first moment I laid eyes on it’s glorious beaches back in the summer of 1990. It might be due to my genealogical tie from my Cornish ancestor, Samuel Jewell, who left Cornwall for the Eastern shores of Canada in the 1700‘s. Or is could be the magnetic pull from the distinctly powerful energy I always feel practically humming from the earth and the air around me there. But what really and truly cemented my realization that this needed to be our home was when on this visit there, my children echoed my love of Cornwall right back to me, loud and clear. They were the ultimate deciding factor as my heart continued to show me signs of why we needed to settle here. Why we return here time and time again. Why it is the itch I just can’t scratch.
I think our previous attempt to move to Cornwall in 2006 with my Mum did not work because I was unhappy inside and my soul was not open and free. I was a ball of negative energy due to the ex-husband and the strife I allowed into my life from the burdens he carried. It is hard to see things clearly or let fate guide your hand smoothly when the way is barred by a toxic, disruptive life-force around you.
To be in Cornwall surrounded by only love, positivity, and an open heart, made it all really clear at long last. Our journey was over, our quest had been a success. As we left Cornwall on the train, to go and enjoy the end of our trip in London, the encore to our expedition, we gathered into a family huddle and reinforced what we all wanted: to return to Cornwall to settle and create a home, as soon as we possibly can!
We won’t be waiting long. The plans are in place and life is hurtling along at breakneck speed. There is so much to do, but we will do it. We know where we want to be, and we are going for it.
We won’t succumb to any Def Lepparding on this life changing adventure!
