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We’re back home after our whirlwind adventures in England + France! I’m currently sorting through 1500+ photos and videos on both my Nikon and iPhone (gulp) and can’t wait to share more from our trip. While there were so many special moments, this one was especially poignant. I shared it on Instagram but I’m sharing it again here because I believe the message bears repeating. The kids and I spent most of our time exploring London solo, as we tagged along with my husband on a work trip. He would meet up with us after work or for lunch – whenever possible, of course…but navigating a new to me city with two young children was challenging to say the least. They’re not city kids – we live in a small town outside of Philadelphia. While we go into the city often and they’ve traveled quite a bit, they are still not accustomed to the pace and hustle of a big city. By the end of each day we were so thankful to retreat to our friends’ calm oasis in Shepherd’s Bush (more on that soon). There were quite a few times when the city wore me down and I felt like giving up.

Not long before I took this photo, Marie fell down the stairs of a double decker bus. It wasn’t our first ride, and it wasn’t her fault – the driver was not paying attention (it was during rush hour) and we were getting off at an uncommon stop for that time of day. We were all holding on, but we had barely been stopped for a minute or two when he started to move and the bus lurched forward, tossing Marie down the stairs behind me. She was screaming and seemed to be injured badly – my mama bear instincts kicked in big time, and I screamed at the driver. I’m thankful to the kind strangers who came to our aid, and after making sure she was ok, we all had a good cry on the street after exiting the bus. It was a traumatic event, and we almost gave up on the rest of our plans for the day…we decided to press on after calming down. We were exhausted by the time we reached Tower Bridge, and didn’t have the energy to wait in line for the perfect photo opp. We stepped aside to regroup and there it was…perfectly reflected and framed in the background. The kids were all smiles, despite the stressful day we’d had. That’s when I realized…the sights are exactly that–background to this beautiful life. What I really needed to focus on was right in front of me all day long. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh perspective.