We’ve three weeks to go before we dive right back into a European summer. Three weeks until life takes a slight detour off the beaten path and embraces unpredictability, challenges, and growth. And we’ve less than three weeks before Meabh says goodbye to her Daddy for what we are approximating will be a year.
Reversing traditional roles early on in parenthood, Meabh and Eanna have formed an unmistakable “Daddy-Daughter” bond. With Mum often cast to the side during activities, they forged a path for themselves- becoming a dynamic duo.
How do you prepare a toddler for the fact that their best friend — the one their whole world revolves around — is leaving? Our motivation for travel was to lessen that emotional impact, changing the narrative so she sees it as us going on the adventure while Dad stays at home. We’ve been careful to balance reality with fantasy, trying to weave an explorer/adventure theme into the future. But the reality is, there is an unspoken understanding that big change is coming, even if she can\’t quite grasp the full stretch of it yet. With that has come extra comfort seeking from Dad, a few more tears and a growing anxiety in the pit of my stomach. While I know these changes can only benefit our family, I’d be a mad woman to admit it won’t be challenging.
Nonetheless, we’ve committed — and happily so! Flights are booked for May 18th. I’m strangely not overly perturbed about the 24 hours in transit across the Indian Ocean to Doha and then on to Dublin. Downloaded episodes of Bluey, Paw Patrol, and Gabby’s Dollhouse will be used and abused. Overpriced coffee will be bought in Doha. Sleep will be unlikely but greatly needed, and for those who know me well, my plane routine will quietly play out to avoid an untimely death.
So, with three weeks to go, we’ve got much to do. I’m using this as an excuse to declutter the house, sell everything in sight, and deal with marketplace buyers who ruthlessly bargain hunt. All the while, we’re trying to spend as much time together as a family as we can. Lucky for us, spare time comes easy in the life of the unemployed.
