Returning home to a new paradigm. The long short summer is over, and kids are returning to school. We are returning to our home after 14 days on the road, starting our oldest child at college, visiting with family, touring national parks, driving through 14 States, and experiencing astronaut-like proximity with our two remaining teenagers and each other (my wife and I).
Being this close with each other, physically speaking, has forced us to communicate candidly and often, and has revealed patterns of engagement both healthy and not.
I think we have forged the beginnings of our new family structure and dynamics, now 4 instead of 5. We’ve become accustomed to talking things through. sort of like a space ship, our van provides no where to go, and conversations and disputes can run their full course.
Perhaps this is at the core of how this roadtrip has changed us, we have grown accustomed to staying engaged until resolution comes and a new equalibrium emerges. Ultimately patience and love for each other help us find a way through each time, and the physical closeness has forced us to deal rather than retreat.
Yes, I think riding in a terrestrial spaceship together for14 days across 14 states has helped us grow closer and become more honest, emotionally intimate, and connected as a family.
As we return to our home, I hope our new dynamic continues and we build this habit of communicating until resolution and equilibrium manifests, because we talk it out and allow love and commitment, to keep us on the rails. Seems like that is what is happening to me anyway.
Ben Wagner (220)
Member the36Scommitment
