the life of an entrepreneur on the road entails down days as well as up.

the life of an aussie returning home after a year on the road has its down days as well as up.

we spent my second week in australia deep in reality. ryan fixing up his truck to ensure that it would make it the 5,000 km we were about to drive across the country. and me making sure that black friday, small business saturday, cyber monday, and giving tuesday promotions got out smoothly.

it is good to get a dose of reality. soak in time with ryan’s friends and family. catch up on work and stay balanced.

thanksgiving and christmas have always been big holidays within my immediate family. my siblings and i rarely spend them anywhere else but with each other. and what did i do this year? i flew across the world just in time to miss both.

yet, as luck would have it, ryan and i happened to have dinner plans at his aunt’s house on thanksgiving day. he had no clue that he had planned it that way, but i did. with ryan and his mom, brother, brother’s girlfriend, aunt, and uncle gathered around the dinner table, i announced that it was american thanksgiving and made everyone say what they were grateful for this year.

it was weird to not be around my family for turkey and rice-a-roni and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, but a chook with a beer can up its bum on the barbie was a nice substitute.

oh and the ice cream. there was lots of ice cream bars involved for dessert including one which i incorrectly called a “gay tom” all night long. it is apparently a “gay time.” damn aussie accents.

oh and then there was our band. no, neither one of us can actually play an instrument.

this is a bit belated, but i have a lot to be thankful for this year. thousands of miles away from home, and i still feel home. i am blessed to have family and friends that make it easy to take them with me wherever i go. their love and laughter never escapes my mind. and watching my father take a photo on his phone of my face on skype video on my brother’s flatscreen made it almost worth being away for the holidays.

now here i am in australia making new relationships that will come along with me as i journey further.

like gordo’s (ryan’s dad) amazing jokes:

him: you know i saved ryan from drowning one time.
me: oh yeah?
him: yeah, i just took my foot off his head. boom boom.

“boom boom” is what he says instead of our classic bah dum chesh (no clue how to spell out that sound effect). there were several occasions where i had to wait for the boom boom because i had no clue if he was telling a joke or teaching me a new australian fact. talk about a man who can keep you laughing.

or heather’s (ryan’s mom) genuine hugs. i have never been greeted with such a heartwarming embrace. the kind that makes your insides fill with butterflies and endorphins.

or dale and steph (ryan’s brother and his girlfriend) and all their puppy love. who knew two white puppies (and two amazing people) could steal your attention for so many hours of entertainment.

or getting to meet ryan’s granddad and seeing an old man have just as much sass as i’m sure he had in his youth.

or connecting with my fellow hippie spirit, ryan’s aunt vicki.

the memories are already too many to recount, and my time in palm beach unfortunately had to come to an end. but it’s always an epic end with ryan. a night out on the town for a friend’s birthday filled with delicious food and expensive wine and shutting down the dodgy “shark bar” at 2am with good old matty rogers.

time to pack up the ute and hit the dirt road…literally. further and farther into the middle of nowhere australia we go. hours and hours amongst just the termite mounds and meandering cows.