Magicality….Boss-emness…IKR (ick-er)….Tockaway??

We are now at the 5 week point of what could be as many as 52 weeks on the road. We started with a relaxing two weeks in Fiji to exhale after a long year of planning, financial remunerations, vaccinations, house/pet logistics, etc. After about day 9 or 10 we were all getting restless and we were ready to move on. So what has it been like to be together 24 x 7?

The magic has been in the family lore that we are creating along the way. All families earn their share of traditions and secret languages over time. Being on the road for 5 weeks now has created an accelerated timeline in creating these words, experiences and foibles that have come to be used as our own team language. Bill used Magicality…..one of Ben’s monikers…in the title of a prior post. Magicality has become useful for so many things including a hole-in-one at putt-putt, a favorite TV station at a new hotel or locating an awesome pizza joint.

Marley loves the word boss because she is BOSS. This has added Boss-emness to the descriptors of life on the road. Seeing a Kiwi for the first time….flying into the fiords of Milford Sound…taking a hike up a mountain path…all become moments of “Boss-emness”.

IKR…I Know, Right?…is the texting terminology that has become a family favorite. “Ick-er” is often recited when there is agreement over a comment about a movie, a view or a new accommodation. “What beautiful mountains!”….is greeted with “I-K-R” or an enthusiastic “Ick-er”. We all get a subliminal hug and nod as we know its intent.

We cannot pass a “Takeaway” restaurant – which are everywhere here – without using the phrase “Tock-away”. This is a residual phrase from a prior family trip when Ben and our friend Griffin were trying to negotiate an order for carry out and the Chinese gentleman behind the counter kept saying “Tockaway”….which after several attempts go the boys trying to get carry out, finally registered with the young men as Takeaway. Right…”To Go” has become “Tockaway”.

We don’t have the “Magicality” to tolerate each other every moment. We still get impatient. The kids may fight over whose turn it is on the iPad or who gets which bed in our latest accommodation. Mommy may think Daddy-O is crazy for putting items in a different “really great spot so I remember it” and then he doesn’t moments. Mommy-O gets just plain snippy and I am sure my peeps could add to this list but as the writer I get the luxury to keep this list short. It has been an adjustment moving from our prior school and work routines that were constructed of very little time together to a life of being together almost non-stop. We are working up new routines.

The kids’ level of independence grows with every new town we visit. At Lake Wanaka they could go to the internet café on their own and meet us for dinner afterward at a restaurant around the corner. In Queenstown, Bill and I went to dinner (where Daddy got an eyeful in a gorgeous Chilean waitress he can share about in another post) while the kids watched some TV and we brought them back pizza from Hell. (really….Hell’s Pizza of NZ…awesome stuff!) In Arakoa we gave them the key to the hotel after dinner and they ran off the several blocks to the hotel on their own.

We have learned to pack up quickly and without many words necessary. When we hit a new destination we are like a well-oiled machine unloading the car or being “donkeys” as we call it. We find our quiet corners and we bond individually in unique ways that wouldn’t have presented themselves at home. Our home has become the road. We are becoming a stronger unit. It has all been Magicality and boss-emness and we are truly blessed. I am hopeful that over the months and miles we can continue to navigate this path with patience and tolerance and kindness. IKR!? I Know, Right?!