WHITE HORSES, HELICOPTERS AND RED TRACTORS

A white horse, a helicopter and a red tractor...these were typically the three things my mum would challenge us to find while on long drives. The helicopter replaced the sky diver after one memorable occasion that didn't end well for the sky diver....true story.  Anyway, If you could find all three you were the winner.  A variant of the more vocal and whiny 'eye spy' which I imagine now as an adult would have been just as annoying for my parents to keep hearing as the infamous 'are we there yet'.  

Long interstate drives with three small boys was surely a challenge. A true test of your parent's patience and diplomacy skills.Trading time, distance and good behaviour for small amusements, back seat ceasefires and peace treaties would last as long as the next turn-off for a McDonalds. 

Those golden arches represented the reignition of disputes.  Sometimes over property - colouring books and pens mostly and sometimes they were turf wars waged over crossed boundaries and particular seats. These were the days long before back seat DVD players and portable game consoles. Fights broke out like vicious civil wars that with some mediation might settle into hour long cold wars just waiting to explode.

Speaking of seats, my favourite was to sit in the back of the 4WD looking directly at the cars behind us.  My favourite game was to play 'stare off' with the poor bloke in the vehicle directly behind us.  I'd just sit and stare directly at the person driving.  It used to drive them insane.  Most would overtake us or change lanes after a minute or two. I recall one drive up into the mountains and the roads were narrow and winding with no opportunity for my opponents to escape...Dressed in my batman pyjamas clutching my glow worm, whose head conveniently lit up with the push of a button, we would stare continuously at this guy driving for over 20 minutes.  Staring directly into his eyes, distracted only by the on and off glowing head of my glowworm. Stare....on...off...staring..on...off....still staring...on...off...

I'm proud to say I don't play 'stare off' with strangers any more and I don't own a glow worm, nor do I wear batman pyjamas. Like most, I have lost my childhood need for immediacy and can drive for more than 5kms before trying to jump out the sunroof. 

One of the challenges in life is to realise that sometimes the journey is all part of it.  Now, as an adult, I look back on those days of driving as a family with fond memories. They defined my understanding of my parents and siblings, taught me patience and about boundaries and those drives afforded precious time together that forced us to learn how to 'get along'.  

Suddenly the long journeys I remember being never-ending - they are all I remember now. More than where ever we were going. 

It's been 3 months now since I started my new life. Today, marks an emotional and personal milestone. 3 months and 17kgs down.

I could say I've got further to go still than I have come.  I could say I've hardly started, that there's a mountain in front of me. I could easily wail 'are we there yet?!' and "how much further?!". However I know now, I can't wish away the journey but rather I need to embrace it and be thankful for it.  I need to look for those white horses, the helicopters and red tractors on my journey and jump and shout like my 5 year old self when I see them.  Celebrate them and feel proud of every Golden arched turn-off I speed on past.

What I have learnt these past few months is that every time the journey seems never ending, overwhelming, try to remember the journeys of your past and you will always come to the same conclusion - it's the journey that was the story and what mattered.  Don't wish away the journey but embrace it - every fence post, every white horse.

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