Lucky to Live

Perhaps, after seeing our beautiful photos
of this life unplugged,
on the road,
with our children -

perhaps, you think we are selfish
and lucky
and only indulging in this wanderlust for
ourselves.

Quite the contrary.

We live this life
with a small urn on our dashboard,
taking our son with us
in our hearts
every mile we drive
showing Aaro,
and his two sisters,
the wonders of the world.

We had hoped to share this majesty with him
in the flesh, but now we may do so
only in spirit.

We work hard to lead the life we do,
for our children,
to feel them, see them, smell them, hear them;
to guide them, learn from them,
to tuck them in as often as we can,
to experience as many slow mornings snuggled in together as possible.

This is not about holding tightly, but rather
savoring and experiencing these moments;
glorying in life, celebrating it, tasting it, embracing it.

We choose to live our lives to honor our son,
we choose to disengage from the whispering factory of fear,
we choose to listen to the deep truth inside, that yells -
LIVE! Damnit, GO and LIVE!

We are honoring what is our only guaranteed turn around the sun
this short and tender chance to flourish in the radiance,
this radiance, this spark called life.

If you are lucky - that spark may catch and grow.

So, yes, we are lucky,
lucky to see what is possible
in the darkest corners of loss,
lucky to see what can be made
when this spark of life is embraced,
when that light is allowed to shine.

-- Emily Harteau, who travels the world with her husband, Adam, and their two young girls, Colette and Sierra, posting their adventures on http://ouropenroad.com/
(arranged and edited quote, sourced from http://ouropenroad.com/torres-del-paine/)