I\u2019ve genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to write during this trip. At first, I wasn\u2019t sure how I felt about being \u201cappointed\u201d the documentarian of this adventure. Would it start to feel like a chore? Would anyone actually read this stuff?, or would my rambling posts end up lost in the internet wilderness, read only by me, Sheila, and maybe Cedar one day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as it turns out, I\u2019ve sort of loved it. On many occasions, I\u2019ve set aside time\u2014headphones on\u2014to sit and recount the day\u2019s or week\u2019s adventures, indulging my creative funny bone. I\u2019ve always enjoyed weaving a good yarn, and by now most people take my storytelling with the seriousness it deserves (the 80\/20 rule applies: 80% true, 20% bullshit, or is it the other way around). Still, with any good adventure, I hope this blog will serve as a primer when we\u2019re back home sharing these memories with friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, there were plenty of little moments I could have written about, but following my own advice of cutting down screen time, I would have been glued to the laptop instead of out on the lake\u2014or in the mountains\u2014or in a mountain lake, like we were the other day. Maybe, one day, I\u2019ll get around to writing down the bedtime stories Cedar and I dreamed up as we lay on our backs thinking about all the fun we\u2019d had. Like the fairies who live in mountain houses trading wild strawberry jam with the hut guardians at Soldat, or the ones who ride a magic funicular and zipline between their tiny homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong, what I\u2019ve written here is definitely the curated<\/em> version of our trip. Eighty-nine days of morning, noon, and night together brought plenty of knock-down, drag-out fights (between all of us). Just like all good social media, we\u2019ve shared the best of the best\u2014not the messier bits. Surprise – not everything has been perfect \ud83d\ude42 like our haunted Nespresso machine, or the time Jason blew the power to the entire apartment trying to run a shaver (which is now probably broken). Or Cedar’s \u201cseven-day\u201d TV grounding that somehow lasted two months, or the enthusiastic jackhammering from the construction site below us\u2026 Each of these could\u2019ve been its own blog post, and maybe, once we\u2019re home, I\u2019ll add a few of these moments for extra spice. Or maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I do know is that I\u2019m not ready to say goodbye to any of this. We\u2019ve had the incredible privilege of being welcomed into so many lives here\u2014first and foremost, our Swiss family in Chernex. We\u2019ve also had the chance to step outside the hustle and bustle of our \u201cregular\u201d life and learn firsthand how things can feel when you focus on each other and live simply. Sabine and Yvan have a beautiful family, and as an outsider looking in, it\u2019s obvious they\u2019ve got their priorities exactly where they should be. As Sabine says of Yvan (and Yvan of Sabine): \u201cWe\u2019re happiest when we\u2019re spending time together as a family.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That spirit radiates through this whole place. Celine, David, Sophia, Alexandre, Rafael, and Norah (the cousins) are the same way\u2014the seven of them form a formidable gang, tearing up the village together, and somehow always playing nicely. We\u2019ve been so lucky to be welcomed into it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If but for nothing else, this journal will document how this place and these people etched themselves into the pages of our family story. More than anything I will miss the gathering at HQ for Apero evenings in Chernex, the kids laughter bouncing off the stone walls of la Petit Ruelle, the last minute adventures and the small and unexpectedly perfect moments. We came here looking for a change of pace, a reset, and we found it, and much more. We learned about the swiss sense of connection\u2014to each other, to these places, and to a more intentional way of living. I hope when we return home, we carry a little of this with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you later! <\/p>\n\n\n\n P.S. There are a few more posts just sitting in draft waiting to be uploaded with pictures. Our last couple of weeks were spent squeezing every last bit of fun out of our trip, I’ll be sure to get them uploaded, along with a bunch more photos as soon as we get home!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to write during this trip. At first, I wasn\u2019t sure how I felt about being \u201cappointed\u201d the documentarian of this adventure. Would it start to feel like a chore? 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