For those who embark on a life that requires an education outside the parameters of the brick and mortar classroom, facing the mountain of information on homeschooling (or in our case boats/worldschooling) can seem highly intimidating. And I was certainly no exception.  I was lucky to have a friend who is a passionate advocate for homeschooling and customized education, so I could turn to her with all of my questions, like the first one, “Where do I even begin looking for appropriate materials, curriculum, information?!” But even after immersing myself in the information and purchasing the materials I thought would provide the most well-rounded education while we were gone (and at that time we did not know how long that would be . . . one year, two years, three years, never come back?), actually doing the work, i.e., being an educator, proved to be *much* bigger job than I ever anticipated or prepared myself for.  For lots of different reasons. Suffice it to say we are very happy to be back and our students/children are happy and thriving in their respective educational environments among their peers and friends back at home.

Our time in Southern Jalisco feels like ages ago now… now that we are resettled in our Northern California home, with the kids in school, Dakota safely docked in the Bay Area and the weather slightly starting to cool (very slightly, albeit). But the feelings Southern Jalisco invokes in me are sweet and remind me of the unique adventures we experienced there.  Looking back at our pictures and reading back over the sections of our “Pacific Mexico” cruiser’s guidebook is like jumping in a time machine and putting myself back there . . . Back when our biggest concerns were potable water, sufficient power supplies and getting to shore uneventfully from our anchorage. Tenacatita Bay (or more properly, Bahia Tenacatita) is a very special place. Fairly untouched and not remotely close to the typical overrun Mexican resort town, this sleepy bay is where some of our most fond memories are.  In addition to our river estuary tour in Perula, we went ashore and took a taxi to the nearby town of La Manzanilla for a field trip of sorts to visit the crocodile sanctuary.

I’m still processing the year of adventure, travel and personal growth that we have experienced and if asked to say where I am on the spectrum of reflection, I’d say something like “barely scratched the surface” or “merely the tip of the iceberg.”  I think that our year (or to be precise, 11 months) away was the adventure of a lifetime and yet I still feel like it’s a story that is unfinished.  I still feel that tug to go travel again, to (*gasp*) live on the boat again, to see and do more. The world is a huge place, there is so much to see and experience and I feel like the year only scratched the itch. Yet, I also feel like this break, or “return to reality,” as many folks have coined it, is also necessary for our tribe.  A return to a sense of normalcy is a good thing. It gives us all time to reflect, think, process and most importantly to me, integrate everything we learned while we were gone into our lives here at home.