Last night Trevor and I left for Colorado. Our trip has two legs. The first from Johannesburg to London. I’m typing this in the pause before the second leg. London to Denver and then to Colorado Springs. Trevor calls this pause – transitional time. It is a container of time that helps with the rapid change; a concept that reminds me of one of the sayings of the Desert Fathers.

They used to say that our souls sometimes have to catch up with our bodies.

My soul is somewhere over the Atlantic.

Yesterday as I said my goodbyes to Lollie, Tayla and Liam it struck me how intertwined our lives are. As I drove myself to the airport I could almost physically feel how the roots that connect us stretch and take strain. It’s as if my life and its rhythms are connected to theirs on a very physical level. Like a vine is being stretched I could almost hear the eking from the pulling. Geography is a huge part of our lives.

Yesterday during the morning, out of the blue, Tayla curled up to me and placed her head unto my chest. She looked up at me and said, “Dad, I don’t like it when you go away.”

I don’t like it either.

But I think it is healthy.

We are still connected – emotionally and over the tendons of the internet.