Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, 

but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." 

Douglas Adams

The Dominican Republic really was the perfect location to finish off our trip.  The ultimate destination to suspend our family between the end of the journey and the beginning of our entry back into reality.  

I didn't want the trip to end yet I wanted to go back, perhaps that is Nirvana?  The place where looking back brings sweet tears of loss for the good times spent, the present frames a contented sensation and the future is filled with gleeful anticipation.   

Lounging in the apartment each day I could never quite bring myself to post the blog, somehow by suspending the moments in cyberspace would mean that I would never have to leave or write about a return.  I would just stay there in my Nirvana existence.  

We had achieved such great distances in the last year and triumphed many obstacles.  Sure we had our share of full of unfulfilled dreams and thwarted travel plans, maybe the home school had been too massive an undertaking, perhaps we had paused our live aboard boat plans.  However, one thing was absolutely sure, our bond of family had grown as close as the minute living spaces we often found ourselves existing in.

Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I'm sure I'll soon be back to planning secret travel itineraries, there is talk of Australia next year.  I have that guilty secret of my trans Siberian train trip lurking around in my mind and a side trip to Croatia if I visit the Uk again this summer. 

“The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.”  Erma Bombeck

Returning has been a confusing climactic anticlimax of emotions and I am mindful not to bore people with story after story of the adventures.  Instead I am retreating back into my historical journey, by blogging it means I get to go back to where ever it was and rediscover a depth of details through post trip research.  And my ground breaking last thoughts?  Less is more, and if you hold onto plans, people, possessions, the past too tightly they trickle from your grip like sand.  Finally make every breath count, especially at altitude.

Cirque de Chapman

"At the beach, life is different. 
Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. 
We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun."

Unknown

Our afternoons in Cabarete were filled with wind and kite adventures, the mornings however, were a time of coffee and contemplation.  Opening my eyes to watch the sunrise from the comfort of my bed was the ultimate secret decadence.  I would watch the world slip into view bathed by the early morning smolder of coral and peach hues.  In the silent surrounds of my sleeping family I reveled in that moment of solitude.  I had no wants or needs I was just a human being, not a human doing.  I was overwhelmed with a sensation of gratitude which was all encompassing.  I felt so fortunate to be alive and be right there, in that place, in that moment.  

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which 
anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens 
but just those that bring simple little pleasures, 
following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” 

L.M. Montgomery

The balcony framed the silhouette of the palm trees and the glint of the sun above the horizon illuminated the chop on the rhythmic grey green waters of the Atlantic. As the world began to wake around me I watched the waves curl over the outer reef and the flags at the corner of the bay flutter with the tell tale sign of a strong afternoon wind.  I savored that piece of perfect contentment as it melted into my soul. A layer of cloud slowly enveloped the dawn and the light became muted and less reflective.  Our apartment block began to stir and outside the gardeners started their daily routine of hosing the pool deck.  Their low spanish chatter increased my sense of exotic ambience.  Or maybe that was an endorphin high from muscles aching with the satisfaction of days upon days of being dragged around by a kite?

Time for a caffeine fix and to go Extreme, Hotel Extreme that is.  Our mid morning routine involved Greg and I sitting in the oversized Adroinack chairs in the hotel's beach restaurant sipping on smoothies while the kids wandered about unattended in the hope they may run away with the circus.

" Just cause you got the monkey off your back 

doesn't mean the circus has left town."

 George Carlin

Home school was finished and off my back, but it had seriously taken me beyond the point of breaking. I couldn't decide what was harder; having a whole list of boring lessons I forced the kids to do, or now it was over to try and come up with a list of fun diversions.  I was hysterically happy when the kids decided to attend circus school. 

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."

Woody Allen 

Once the euphoria of learning I would have the mornings to myself had worn off I did actually start to question firstly my sanity and secondly the kids.  With a frown of consternation I set off to find the ring master with a few safety questions in mind.

"Keep the circus going inside you keep it going, 
don't take anything too seriously, it'll all work out in the end." 

David Niven

The ring master of this whole affair was Paul, a crazy Canadian who had indeed followed his father's footsteps in becoming a head master, but his was a school of ropes, swings, nets and wires.  The lessons taught here were about trust and belief in self and the ability of others to catch you when you fall.  Paul was quick to reassure me of high safety standards and in a well practiced conversation informed me of his background and the years he had spent training trapeze acts around the world.  He didn't seem to take the world too seriously and I figured this would be a fun experience for all.

We experience moments absolutely free from worry. 

These brief respites are called panic.”

Cullen Hightower

The next day we arrived for the first morning of school, the jitters had set in and we all took a collective gulp and craned upward to take in the largesse of the trapeze. Jazz and Josh seemed so teeny in comparison and it seemed incredible that the kids would soon be swinging higher than the palm trees.

  

Worry is a misuse of imagination."Dan Zadra

Needless for us to have worried, Paul quickly had the kids harnessed up with chalk on their hands and ready to climb the long ladder up to the trapeze.  

"Vertigo is the conflict between the fear of falling and the desire to fall."

Salman Rushdie

Jasmin was the first to climb the stairway to heaven and her confident movements belied the moments of apprehension written on her face.

"there's got to be a leap of faith. 

Ultimately, when you're at the edge, you have to go forward or backward" 

Yo Yo Ma

And leap she did, time after time, day after day.  Our girl, fearless and strong, was soon able to execute the instructions Paul shouted up from below.    

“Hold fast to your dreams, 

for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”

 Langston Hughes

Of course it takes a few mistakes to be able to get it right, but Jazz just kept on believing in her dreams, herself and her own ability and soon the mid air pirouettes and somersaults began to look professional. 

"Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death"

Hunter S. Thompson

Climbing the ladder day in and day out her stamina also increased and it was soon time to add to her repertoire. 

“Advice from a veteran trapeze performer: Throw your heart over the bars and your body will follow.”

Oddly enough, flying through the air on a trapeze really helps ground people. It became clear to me that there was a profound magical effect on these people.”

Peter Gold

"Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price." 

Amelia Earhart

For Josh the experience was one of overcoming fear and  trusting that the ropes would hold even if he lost his grip.  Letting go was a big accomplishment and he approached the challenge in a much different way than Jazz.  Each day he would gain more confidence on the trapeze but also spend time learning the other skills on the low wire. Practicing on the trampoline gave Josh a chance to practice the physical movements he would need up on the high trapeze, it was also a more social affair with the other kids in the class crowded close to watch the fun.

"Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it.  Try again. Do better the second time.  The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire.  This is your moment.  Own it." 

Oprah Winfrey.

•O, he flies through the air with the greatest of ease, This daring young man on the flying trapeze. 
- George pseudonym of  Joseph Saunders Leybourne

“It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear . . . . It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.”

 Marilyn Ferguson

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

 of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

 You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung

 High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

John Magee

“Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly."
Langston Hughes