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That would be me melting down, but I feel better for it.

Road Code

Arriving in the US, meant having to sit a California Driver’s Licence test — oh goodie. I wasn’t 100% sure if I needed to do it or not, but it turns out I did. In prep for the potential test I studied the road code on the plane. No easy task with puking child on one side and sleeping child kicking me in the head on the other side.
But the day after arriving in jet-lag mode I sat the test, and failed! Not terribly surprised really. Luckily you get three chances and the woman serving me at the DMV printed off the answers I got wrong (you’re allowed 3 wrong, I got 4 wrong). I studied for about 10 mins and then sat it again and got 100%. Whew.

Taxes

The day after the DMV we had a meeting with our US tax preparer. We’ve never me him before and we wanted to put a face to the name and have him answer a few questions for us. It was great to meet him (considering we’ve dealt with him a lot and trust him withTurns out because our situation has changed we have to pay more taxes in the US…. sigh. I’m not sure how we’re going to do that, considering how much we’re thinking we’ll be earning, but we have a requirement to pay 15% tax, so we’ll have to figure out how to find the money to pay it. Aggghhh

Spreadsheet

Then the final straw before my meltdown came in the form of a spreadsheet. Nat and I are working on a web project and I’m project manager among other roles. What that means is I need to get people to do their part. However, in order for each person to do their bit, they need something from the other side. But the other side needs something first before they can start. Frustrating vortex. Which pushed me over the edge into tears. (Which to be fair doesn’t take too much.) But it was a good example for the kids. Things keep going ‘wrong’ but you still have to push forward and get it done. So I did. I cried, then I got on with it and got it done. Yay.

So whats next?

The family arrived and it means more of a balancing act. We want to spend time with everyone, and yet we have commitments to outside forces. How to balance it all? How do you make everyone feel they got their ‘money’s worth’? No idea. All I know is that I need to really stop and breath it all in. Everything has been such a blur, it’s been such a hard slo it’s hard to enjoy it and that frustrates me so much, I keep thinking it’s going to ‘get easier’, but it hasn’t to date, and if I keep thinking it will ‘get easier’, then I will be horribly disappointed. So I need to accept that the trip will be ‘hard’ and any day that feels easy is a bonus.
You know what is easy? The awesome house we’re staying at. It’s beautiful and very luxurious! We have a bed even. We’ve slept on air mattresses since the beginning of March, so it’s nice to have a bed. I’m not used to having such luxury, so I’m soaking it all in that’s for sure.
Look at us being all nomad-y…

Nat computer porch
Doing the nomad thing on the porch at the Santa Barbara rental house

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Alice Rae-Flick

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By: Alice Rae-Flick

4 Replies to “Meltdown!”

  1. Nate. Life’s highs and lows … hey? 🙂
    Keep smiling, communicating with each other, and enjoying those drinks at the end of the day. You guys will settle into a routine, and yes… then it’ll change, and you’ll have to adapt. It’s weird how tough it is to wake up each day in different surrounds with so many unknowns and have to make it work. It’s why society wraps us in familiarity, 9 to5 jobs, routine and … boredom. Much harder to wake up each day and have to make things happen for yourself and your family. I admire you guys and your adventure.
    Hugs.

    1. Lol, there have been a few drinks that’s for sure!
      We’ve realised that we’ve chosen to throw ourselves in the deep end by combining a number of big ‘life stressors’ (moving house, starting a business, homeschooling etc). But, it’s awesome we get the opportunity. We just have to remember not to ‘wait’ for it to get easy before we start enjoying it, as that’s never going to happen. We’ll just get used to the stress levels.
      We’re getting there slowly but surely, can’t believe we’ll be in Norway soon!
      Thanks for your comment, made us both smile.
      Alice

  2. There are times when a good old fashioned melt down just hits the spot.

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