Sometimes we ask ourselves, “Who in the right mind would sell everything and give up a great secure job (my husband) to travel with two teens with no fixed itinerary?”
As the days of travel is approaching, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have made the right decision to sell almost everything we owned including homes. In the last two years of preparation we moved from a four bedroom three bath home with a pool to a two bedroom condo, sold a grand piano for one fifth of the purchased price, gave away furniture, a vehicle and now having just boxes around the living room and garage ready for storage.
As I reflect on the shortcomings, successes and failures of our ventures in the last eight years, I’m thankful and glad for what has happened and wouldn’t trade them for anything else. About two years ago I read a quote by Warren Buffet and recorded it in my journal. He said “should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
This journey we are about to embark did not happen suddenly, for it came after many thought processes, evaluation and soul searching. It has been strategically planned with our 17 and 14-year-old teens' help. What a joy to see my kids expressing their excitement and sometimes, disappointment throughout this process. After all, they are teens and having little to nothing in their backpack while traveling is uncomfortable.
I believe travel will enlarge my kids’ territory – their vision and purpose in life. So many teens today are like ‘zombies’ (description used by one of my kids) going to school and just going with the motion with countenance that is lacking in joy and purpose.
We had our fair share of ‘zombified’ days….
Not anymore. It came when we stepped up, took control and stopped that lifestyle.
We worked hard on ourselves before we expected our kids to work on themselves. Today, we are still not perfect and never will be but we are journeying and learning together with the kids before we send them off to impact the world and live the life of their dreams.
For now it is our responsibility to educate them through travel, language immersion, food and cultural experiences, volunteering and more.
You can follow my daughter Bethany Looi on Twitter @bethanylooi or read her blog at www.ontaskva.com. Follow my son Jonathan Looi on Twitter @j_looi and me @travelwritingpr. As for my husband, he will be unveiling his project soon. For the time being, he will remain anonymous.
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