Amazing that we’re only one week away from this trip we’ve been planning for the past year. All of us are super sick and hoping that it passes before we have to get on a plane (even if it is a short flight). Everything is coming together very nicely, and we certainly picked a very exciting time to be there: our visit will coincide with President Obama’s visit, the first time a sitting US president will have visited Cuba in 88 years.
During our week in Cuba, we’re going to be spending some time at a rural school, where Liam and Quinn will be able to meet some Cuban children their age. The woman who connected us with the school told us they don’t have many supplies, so the boys were very excited to go to the store to buy their new friends pens, pencils, markers, dry erase boards,and lots of art supplies. They’re really looking forward to meeting their new friends.
I have to be honest, I’m not feeling the excitement I thought I’d feel. Part of is is exhaustion and being sick. It’s been way too long since I’ve been out of the country….in these five years something has happened to my self-proclaimed travel fearlessness. As our Cuba trip draws near, i feel a lot of my adventurous bravado is being replaced by fear of being vulnerable with children. This is not the me I remember, the one who could only breathe while traveling, and I do trust that all will come together , but there’s no doubt motherhood changes the adventurer’s landscape and definitions significantly.