Artifact Motherhood September 2022 | A van-less summer

Our family adventures took a different path this summer for a number of reasons.

Our beloved camper van and my family’s much-loved holiday home on wheels. Has been undergoing major restoration. It’s been off the road for months. We always knew that this would be the year of different family adventures for us. We want to honour all those thousands of miles and far-flung destinations it’s gifted us, so we have chosen to gift it back a complete refit.

For selfish reasons, for all the adventures we yearn for and are yet to have.

I’m going to pause the van-less adventures and rewind back to the beginning of the year. Where we unexpectedly experienced a bereavement within our family. It continues to shift and shape the foundations of our daily lives. Finding that world kept turning while we tried to stand still, we found ourselves amidst school exams and some post-pandemic anxiety.

I booked two different overseas trips in an attempt to regroup and breathe together as a family.  The first was a trip to Spain during the Easter break, but you tested positive 48 hours before we were due to leave. The second attempt was in June, to Sicily, after your last exam. The airline cancelled that flight that morning, three hours before taking off.

We were sat in a cafe at 8.30am and clicking ‘yes’ to an old cottage in Cornwall.

We headed off instead, to a place we thought we knew so well. Yet during this week, we found new wonders and experiences in the familiar landscapes. Explored the old tin mines buildings that frame the wild and dramatic coastline.

Walking east one day, west the next and talking to people we’d never met, possibly will never meet again.

 

* This season’s story is an edited extract from the next JUNO Magazine Autumn issue.

Artifact Motherhood is a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artefacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Please visit the next artist in our blog circle, the talented Hollie Stokes and continue through all the artists until you get back to me.