Farewells are tough. The emotional roller coaster.

We are motivated by what we expect and hope will be a magnificent personal and family experience as we travel together in the months ahead. We are at times scared about leaving the comforts of our life in Seattle. Our home, our friends, an incredible nanny, the elementary school Scarlett is at, our favorite coffee shop staff at Victrola in Beacon Hill, the wonderful team at the QFC grocery store on Rainier Avenue, my executive assistant and the many great people I work with at the office… the list goes on and on.

We don’t know what the end game is after our travels. We are deliberately going into this experience without that decision made to see if the experience and the reflection time we will create will inspire new pathways that we may not imagine today.

Last tennis lesson with Coach Jimmy, he has been a wonderful mentor to Scarlett and Nora

So we are straddling saying goodbye and see you next year with a possibility that perhaps this is the last time we will see some of these wonderful people. We are taking pictures, appreciating the familiarity of each person and the comfort that this brings. The contrast of each new beginning at each stop along our travels will be stark - both exciting and tiring.

We are noticing that different steps along these weeks and months of preparation have us each on a very different emotional roller coaster. When I am down, struggling with what we are giving up and not feeling so excited about the unknown prospects of what lays ahead, Whitney and sure Nora (3 yo) seem to be on an upward swing about the fun that lays ahead. I struggled in parts of May. Whitney more so in June. Scarlett throughout, Nora almost never, Hazel (4 mths old) can’t speak so we are taking silence as acceptance!

We drive out of Seattle in 7 days time to start our global experience. Wow, it is really happening.