Lemmings

Meet my new hero, the lemming!
What you may think you know about this cute little rodent is, in all likelihood, wrong.  Let's start with the legend.  This poor guy, as the story goes, joins in large groups and commits mass suicide as, once the leader jumps off a cliff, all of the others blindly follow to their deaths.  It seems this myth started many years ago, but has been perpetuated through the years by, mostly, the media.  Maybe the worst transgression was the 1958 Disney documentary White Wilderness, where the cliff-jumping lemmings were filmed, not in their natural habitat, but near downtown Ontario, and they were artificially flung off a cliff by a turntable apparatus created by the film crew.   Academy Award-winning, I might add.  I can see why this innocent animal has become the metaphor for the blind follower... for now.

The lemming is a rodent that lives in the tundra areas of the northern hemispheres, including northern Canada and Alaska.  Periodically, when the population in an area swells, they embark on a mass migration or population dispersal.  Sometimes that migration takes them through dangerous areas, even across rivers.  As they cross the rivers, some drown, and maybe that is where the legend arose.  The intent is not to blindly follow.  The intent is to migrate to a better place.

I have been thinking that I don't want to be a lemming.  I don't want to blindly do what everyone else around me does just because that's what everyone does.  I don't want my kids to grow up to be blind followers.  I want them to find their own path, even if that's not where the group is going.  And so, we move to Australia.  My medical partners, repeatedly, told me I was "crazy".  Our friends and neighbors said, "that sounds great, I wish we could do something like that".  So I'm pretty proud that we've found the courage to not follow the group, to not do what everyone else around us has done, to get a little uncomfortable in the search for what's best for our family.

Which leads me back to the lemming.  It doesn't blindly fling itself off a cliff as myth might tell us.  This heroic, brave, tough beast leaves the comfort (or discomfort) of home, of a known and familiar place, and migrates to a place with the hope that life might be better.  It's uncomfortable.  Maybe dangerous.  But it's good.  Heroic, even.

Days until departure...still waiting.  But start date, January 5.
Next update, more details and less animal pics.  Maybe.
-Peter

Still Waiting...

It is frustrating!
It makes me angry!
I feel out of control. 

Before the next part of our exciting adventure can begin, we wait...and wait...and wait some more.  Occasionally Peter will receive an email informing us of the next step, asking him to sign a document, or an update of the suggested timeline, but usually we wonder.  When we first started this journey, we were told that we would be in Australia in 6 months.  Perfect...July...middle of the summer.  In March we were informed that perhaps we wouldn't be leaving until October.  We regrouped and came up with a plan of how we could enjoy our extra months in Graham.   Once September arrived we heard that Peter would begin working in the Capricorn Coast Hospital before the end of October.  Ok, we thought, here it is. Time to really get moving and be ready.  This past week we got another call.  It looks as though Peter will begin work on January 5.  REALLY??  More waiting!  Haven't we waited enough? Had we known it would have taken a year for us to travel, we might have done things differently, but as it stands now we wait!

As my feelings of frustration and anxiety began to mount, I looked up the word "wait" in the dictionary:  "a state or attitude of watchfulness and expectancy".  Wow!  That definition sounds much more positive than I feel.  Maybe I need to take a step back and look at our situation.  This is an incredible journey that our family is able to do together.  Our lives have slowed down tremendously and we are able to focus on the importance of family.  We have embarked upon the world of homeschooling, where we are all learning and growing together.  We have had opportunities to travel around the country and explore the world around us.  And now, with a later than expected travel date scheduled, we have the chance to continue to enjoy all of those luxuries,  more time to prepare for our journey, and the freedom to stop and think about the scenic ocean views, the sand in our toes, the unknown culture that will surround us, the new place we will call home, and the unfamiliar ways medicine is practiced. 

We have been given the privilege of taking this moment to live in a "state of watchfulness and expectancy" as we wait.

Approximately 90 days 'til departure,
Tricia