15/10/2026
Sometimes you don’t know how much you need a holiday until you are on one. And I really really needed this one 🥹
I love my sister so much ❤️She saw how much I was drowning in all the things I was doing, and offered us an opportunity to reset.
It is humbling to admit that we are struggling, and actually accept help. It’s one of the hardest things I think for us in the west, who have been trained from an early age to be independent and self-reliant.
But I grabbed that opportunity with both hands, and powered through two intense flights with a sick toddler, being sick myself. At times I wondered what the hell I had done!
We arrived the walking wounded, and spent the first day in urgent care receiving excellent care, both needed antibiotics 🥹
My sister was such a great nurse and aunty, and with her care we slowly recovered.
It was a holiday like no other, as I didn’t have energy for much. But simple things nourished our souls, like walks for coffee, swims in the sea, reading books, and long awaited family catch ups.
And being in the opposite season, half a world away in the land of my tūpuna- ancestors, felt strangely familiar.
Exploring northern hemisphere flora and fauna made me think of my ancestors who inhabited these islands for thousands of years before making severing ties and traversing the oceans to settle in Aotearoa in the 1800’s.
I felt at home, yet a visitor. It’s a peculiar juxtaposition that I’m at odds with and probably will be my whole life. But I think is part of my identity as Pākehā. Not quite home in either place.
Sometimes the best part of leaving is returning home.
I got to see everything in my life with fresh eyes. With gratitude and love. And a sense that I’m exactly where I need to be.
Thank you for reading, just felt like sharing 😊
