Let's be 'Life Farmers.'



The tell tale sign that summer is over : the first day of school.  As a parent, there is nothing more telling of time passing us by then the start of a new school year. Even more so than celebrating New Years Eve or even birthdays, the start of a new school year signifies life's milestones represented in the lives of our children. 

Time flies my friends. It's cliche to say but it does and as my own son enters his junior year of high school, I realized just the other day, that next summer will be his LAST summer home with us before he flies the proverbial coop and graduates high school. Upon realizing this, I felt this a sudden urge to cram in a bunch of activities onto the calendar. Plan that trip. Visit that college. Spend more time together. Repent against my not -so -cool-mom moments that have happened throughout the challenges of parenting. It's like the end of a portion of your life that happens when your kids graduate high school. For me it's like knowing the "end is near." I feel this insatiable need to  live out all the dreams I didn't get to manifest with my kids, to plant the seeds I always meant to plant within them to help them grow, to do more with them because my time to have them under my wings is quickly coming to an end.

What's this all have to with travel? Everything. We spend so much money and time investing in our children's lives. We pour money into sports, gadgets, clothes, more gadgets and aside from involvement in sports, all that other stuff doesn't really plant a seed in their life's garden. It becomes money and time poorly spent, yet well-intentioned,  in hopes of creating a happier child. Truth be told, spending time with our children and sharing  new and thought provoking experiences that will stay with them for the rest of their lives is really the best way to have no regrets in our attempts of growing happy and well-rounded children. 

So as I sit here today, in an empty house, reflecting on "where did the time go?" I am challenging myself to do different for the remaining years that my boys are at home. It's not until we are faced with a new situation that we stop to  re-evaluate our life. Impending graduation of my first born is a "new situation" for me. For the next couple of  years, I'll be a 'life farmer', planting the seeds of wonder and curiosity, sharing new landscapes and cultures with my boys and hope that down the road those seeds grow into what they are intended to grow into. . . just what that will be is yet to be determined by time. 

There is no harm  that can be done by traveling with your children. You are gifting them ( and you) something so unique and special that can never be undone  and it will always be cherished in the deep pockets of your souls. 


Travel on "life farmers" . . . plant the seeds, reap the benefits, waste no time. 


Viva la Vida!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La Limpia

Image
Traditional indigenous medicinal practices have always fascinated me. How did people figure out that X plant lowers blood pressure or that if you wrapped X leaf around a wound that it would heal it? It must have been a doozy of trial and error mishaps and successes that brought them to where they are today. Down in Mexico, I was privileged enough to experience some of that traditional Mexican medicine on my own ~ and NO, it wasn't just in the form of tequila! Sheesh, in Oaxaca, they drink Mezcal, which is good for clearing the lungs, helping you sleep, making you feel more handsome/pretty and in general, the perfect tonic for what ails you. As I wandered the roads of Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, it was clear to me that traditional medicine continues to play a huge part in Mexican culture. Up in the Sierra Juarez mountains of Oaxaca lies beautiful "pueblo magico" ~ Spanish for magical town. Pueblos Magicos were created by the secretary of tourism of Mexico to promote tour...
Read more

Finding peace in Huatulco

Image
I just realized that I haven't written a blog post since last July. If you read my last blog post, you will probably understand why I haven't been traveling or why I haven't been real inspired to write lately. Never the less, I am back to writing because I actually have something inspired  to write about. From the movie, "Y tu mama tambien" at Boca de Cielo beach. If you have ever seen the movie, "Y tu Mama tambien" with Gael Garcia and Diego Luna, you will know that in the movie, there is a beach that they invented to impress the lady of the  movie. They called the beach, " Boca de cielo" in the movie. There was something about this place that they went to, this Boca de Cielo ( Mouth of the sky) that drew me into it and told me that some day I needed to go sit on that beach and really feel it. This beach, which is actually called, Playa Cacaluta ( Zapotecan for: Beach of the black birds ) is in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Oaxac...
Read more

Playa del Carmen vs. Cancun ~ What's the big difference?

Image
So, there's Cancun and there's Playa del Carmen. They are so close to one another yet so very different. Nizuc Resort and Spa, Cancun. Cancun . What can I say about Cancun? Cancun is THE perfect first vacation spot for those of you have not been out of the country and want to venture into Mexico. Cancun has a ton of American brand name stores/ restaurants that will leave you feeling comforted if it's an Applebee's or a Hooters that you crave. That being said, I should not negate the Mexican-ish feeling of Cancun but it should be noted that Cancun is a resort town and it feels like it. You will find run of the mill resorts and then you will find some of the best in the area right within Cancun such as Nizuc, voted one of the best hotels in the WORLD by Conde Naste Traveler. Cancun is shaped like a 7 and is on a peninsula with one side facing the Caribbean and the other side facing a lagoon. The hotel zone is just that: an area of Cancun that is nothing but one ho...
Read more