Send your children forth into the world

My stepchildren are an adventurous lot. They have an urge to travel that reminds me of my own youth. I knew from the time I was about 12 that I was going to live in Colorado at one point and this came to be when I was 19. It was an important experience in my life to have travelled abroad. It gave me a different perspective on the world, or rather, it opened up the possibility for other worldviews, other paradigms about what being human was all about. I truly believe that it's an essential part of a youngsters education to spend at least a year abroad, learn different customs, culture and modes of thinking from the inside out.

The world is my oyster
Joyce's oldest son, Joseph, lives in Ibiza and has chosen to make this his permanent residence. He also travelled to such places as Brazil and Portugal to perform in major fireshows or to create his art for festivals. Travelling extensively is an accepted practise with Joyce's family and Eric is all set to travel the world come August after his exams. Him and his girlfriend are going to Marakesh, Albania and the Fiji Islands, to name just a few of the places they are hoping to visit. They intend to work as farmhands to earn their keep. They've been staring at the worldmap for months, looking for the places they want to go, planning to be at as many festivals as they can manage.

Brazil
Dennis wants to go to Brazil after his midterms, which is where my girlfriend get's a bit antsy. He's 16 and while in principle she is fully committed to having her sons live in the freedom to seek out new experiences, to experiment and take their lives to whereever they want to take it, in actual practise this has meant that Dennis has come very close to death a couple of times allready and she worries about what happens when/if he travels to Brazil. Even with her misgivings she will allow him to go. He's working really hard on his job and his studies to make it happen. He's got it all planned out, he has an friend there, a Brazillian boy who is on an educational exchange and has lived in Holland for most of this year. He'll be visiting him and spend some time travelling Brazil with him. Rainforests, Rio de Janeiro, snakes and spiders, so much for a mother to worry about, in particular since this is the same boy who can't seem to hang on to his keys for more than a month and loses his cellphone often enough for the insurance package to make sense. His chaos drives her bananas! This kid travelling Brazil? A scary thought...

All the birds flying the coop
This summer also, Chris will spend a few weeks at least at his fathers. This means that for the first time since Joseph was born, Joyce is going to be without children. It also means that we get to have a summerholiday together. Her first taste of the famous empty nest syndrom, I'll be curious to see what that does for her, how she copes with all her children having left home for an extended period of time. All in all this summer is going to be an interesting journey for all of us.