I have lots of plans, but this wasn’t one of them.
I was hoping to take the youngest girls to Honduras for a few months next year.
Really hoping.
Waiting for Rob to say YES.
Tessa already had.
Ella-Rose was less certain.
Then I had my own doubts.
And even though Rob ended up saying YES, I said no.
It’s not happening. Not in 2020 anyway.
At the beginning of 2019 Rob turned 50.
He had said we weren’t spending unnecessary money this year, so that made buying a present problematic. The one I wanted to give him cost more coins than our budget allowed. Some of the kids told me to just buy it, and he would be happy. I wasn’t so sure. And as it turned out, a significant part of the deal became an impossibility at the Very Last Minute.
You see, Rob and Dave have been mates for most of their lives (you can start saying that kind of thing when you get older, even if you didn’t meet until high school!) They have had all sorts of adventures over the years, and even when Dave and his family moved countries, the friendship stayed tight.
One thing they had talked about doing together was cycling a camino.
So – with Dave’s blessing and Rob’s employer’s permission – I planned it as a birthday present. I stopped shy of buying the air ticket (just in case Rob Really Was Serious about penny pinching) and a week before The Birthday, Dave called to say he couldn’t go.
At least, not next year.
I still gave the present and one day they are going to do it. There’s no expiry date on my wishes, although the longer they leave it, the more their bodies might suffer!
Then at the end of the year it was my 50th.
I got three airline tickets.
Well, fake ones.
And I had to choose which one to redeem.
One was for a weekend with Rob in Queenstown.
One was to take the girls to Honduras.
One was for a solo walk in Spain.
There only felt like there were two “right” answers!
How could you have a heart and not choose to share an adventure with another person?
(Unless you’re an introvert) <wink>
And my adventuring soul argued that a weekend versus a longer experience was a serious complication. Besides, my pragmatic mind suggested I could probably wrangle a weekend trip away out of the Haircuts Budget. Both/and.
As far as Honduras goes, I had claimed my question to the girls about whether they would like to go, was a genuine choice. So the persistent insistent objections needed due consideration. The Smallest Person now knows she has a voice.
Which left an unexpected gift figuratively laying on the table.
That’s when my previous dreamings about walks and routes and timings and possibilities became useful. Some might think it’s pointless to think about things which there is no certainty of achieving, but as a Certified Schemer, I know differently;-) That’s how I was quickly able to find the cheapest flights and fit a walk into the timeframe proffered.
So I’m off for a long walk.
solowalk 2024 