Covering distance...

 Slow Mother Blog (July)

we found the snow!

We’ve been travelling - moving from our home to visit my brother and his family in Canberra, experience the big city of Sydney, as well as to Coffs Harbour for surfing.

Pacha’s legs led us on this journey – her long distance running qualified her for the state cross-country race held in Sydney on the 20th July.  We were determined not to feel too stressed about the race, with the suspicion that at this level of competition a lot of training (which we didn’t do) would be needed to do well. Still, Pacha’s pulse was racing as she took off in the mob of 80 other skinny-legged girls. She came 57^th. Humbling enough to understand the commitment and dedication (and sometimes pain!) required to become a top athlete. Yani watched on, full of pride and with the loudest voice screaming ‘go Pacha!!’ as she determinedly jogged past.

After the competition we had to drive through the centre of Sydney city’s traffic to find our way to my friend’s house. Pacha was my navigator using my phone to follow the map – she was amazing. Here I was; stressed about whether the phone would have enough battery power to last us all the way to our destination, worried about the cars, busses and trucks filling 4 lanes - it felt more frightening to me than being caught in a rip in the ocean - I panicked as it seemed that we had taken the wrong turn – snapping at Yani as he asked some silly questions and demanding that Pacha find the right way NOW!!! It was embarrassing to feel so out of control – but amazingly Pacha held it together and found our way. I think she deserved a gold medal for that!

We made the most of the travelling opportunity - taking a week off school to do things like play with cousins, experience the snow, visit museums and art galleries and connect with friends and family who we haven’t seen for a while and may not see till after our ‘gap’ year slow earth journey starting in November. 

 The following weekend Pacha entered the NSW state surfing competition in Coffs Harbour. It was a glorious day, with beautiful surf and many, many very serious young surfers! (with quite serious looking parents and families who looked totally committed to a surfing life…I felt a little out of place…). Although Pacha didn’t get past the semi-finals in the under 12 girls – she did have the sense that she is improving little by little. Pacha says ‘the experience motivated me to practise more and want to do it again’.  

The biggest lesson from our trip was realising that while natural talent is important – commitment, dedication and a kind of obsession is needed to really excel in something like a sport (or anything really...). We need to choose carefully what it is to give our time and energy to. In the meantime, our family loves doing what give us and others joy more than anything else…so we’ll keep singing, dancing, surfing and practising caring for the Earth…