This is the conversation the children and I had in Suda’s car yesterday.
“Are you all happy to continue our adventure, or would you prefer to go home?” I asked.
“I’m happy to continue my adventure,” said Olivia.
“Abu Dhabi is my best village ever,” said Leo. “I want to go back to the Emirates Palace hotel.”
“I would like to rewind my adventure,” said Bea. I knew what was coming. I turned around to see her bottom lip trembling and then the tears came. “I miss Max,” she wailed. “I want to go home and see Max.”
“But darling girl,” I said. “We’re going to see lots of really interesting things, like India and Oman and the desert.”
More tears from Bea. “There’s nothing more interesting than Max,” she said, looking wistfully out of the window.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008
I know just how you feel. Its so trickey starting out somewhere new – and with children even tougher. We stayed in a hotel for a month or so when we first came to Canada, and then rented somewhere for a while and with my children aged 7 and 4 at the time I could of quite easily headed home at any given moment. My son was the same as your Bea and said that he wanted to go home and I did feel bad – however long term we have all benifited from the experiance – It really was the right decision! Hang in there and I wish you all good luck
Thanks Natalie, that gives me hope! I do think whatever else they (and I) are learning a lot more than they would in our tiny village in the south of France. This is a whole new world.
Hx