I admit that I cried when I received this email from the latest recruit to the Real Life Lonely Hearts Travel Club. People have called me brave before but what Suzanne has been through is something I can’t ever imagine having the strength to do.
I’ll hand straight over to Suzanne but please remember that if YOU fancy appearing on these pages sharing your tale of swapping heartbreak for happiness and going from lost to wanderlust then please drop me an email ([email protected]) or contact me via any of these social media links: Twitter // Instagram // Facebook.
I have always been a traveller and it was mine and my husband’s shared dream to see our boys grow up appreciating their place in the world. We’d done some mad things before the kids arrived including getting a haircut in a market in China, trekking a volcano in Japan, weekend adventures to the Faroe Islands and spending the Millennium diving in Jordan, amongst other things!
Once our two boys arrived we continued to dive and travel but our destinations changed a little. The UK became our location of choice. We still made sure that we visited wild and obscure places with the boys, as well as fitting in romantic (and child-free!) exotic trips.
We had everything anyone could want - two adorable children, a gorgeous home on the Somerset Levels in South West England and a lifestyle that we’d worked hard to achieve all on our own. We planned to retire early, buy a camper van and set off to see the rest of the world once the boys were old enough to fend for themselves.
Unfortunately fate had a different journey for us as in 2012 I was widowed at the age of 39.
My life as I knew it ended in 2012 and it would have been so easy to give up. Since that nightmare day I’ve learnt that we only get one chance at this life. If I hadn’t had the boys who needed stability then I would have been off out into the world, never to be seen again. Instead, I made sure to fit travelling around the boys, feeding my wanderlust as much as possible whenever I can. My friends and family think I’m totally insane but travel, diving, photography and big skies have been my escape from reality.
I’ve had to work out double parenting and how my sons and I can still go on adventures. I’ve also had to figure out how to travel on my own. Lots of my friends say we do ‘so much’ but I just hate to think of being another day closer to not being here and having wasted another chance.
I’ll never forget the love of my life and our plans for the future but I now have to live this life alone (hopefully not forever!) for both of us and make him proud.
From small steps where just getting out of bed was a major achievement, I’ve managed to travel and explore extensively. From day trips out, to a week on the Amalfi Coast, Christmas in a Finnish wilderness camp and weekends all over the UK exploring, my adventures have got more adventurous!
My biggest challenge has been trekking in Patagonia. It was the proof to myself that my new life is emerging. I was 6000 miles from home and away from my boys for 10 days. I was pushing myself to my absolute limits trekking 100km in 4 days and couldn’t give up as I was being sponsored. It was on top of Monte Tronador that I realised that my husband’s best friend had been right at the funeral when he said that ‘it will never be right, but it will be okay’. My situation is far from ‘right’, but life is okay (make that amazing!), it has just taken me a while to realise this.
I firmly believe that our life is what we make it. If you want to do something enough then you will find a way. I want to see the world and be the best mum I can and that’s hopefully what I’m slowly doing day by day. Life could be over tomorrow so if you need to make changes, do it today as tomorrow may be too late.
Suzanne blogs at meanderingwild.com. You can say hi and cheer on this incredible lady via her blog or Instagram @MeanderingWild. Please check her out!
If you want to share your story then fill in the form below and I’ll be in touch!
