5 Quick Things #338 🌍

wisdom from my kid, tallow lotion, Michaelmas, & 10 years since #WorldwideOx!

Hey there,

A few weeks ago, the ten-year anniversary of the start of our family’s school year around the world quietly passed, and not a day has gone by in that decade where I don’t think about that weird, wild year at least once. When we started the kids were ages nine, six, and four, purposely chosen for that time because they were old enough to carry backpacks and not wear diapers yet young enough to not be too terribly rooted in a home base with friendships and activities. Both mine and Kyle’s work were location independent and we were already homeschooling, which meant all five of us could relatively feasibly take our lives on the road and keep on keepin’ on in some capacity, no matter where we were.

For five years we’d saved up enough cash for the long-haul plane tickets, yet beyond that, the bulk of that era of travel wasn’t any more expensive than just living at home in one place. We’d need to eat, pay rent or mortgage, and use transportation regardless, and all the “extras” of home — kid activities, outings out, spending time with other people — were natively built in to the system of a year of travel. Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, hot air ballooning over the Masai Mara in Kenya, and renting an apartment in Rome with family friends also doing a wild season of family travel equaled (okay, let’s be honest: surpassed) any sort of year at home taking ballet classes or eating out for date nights.

30 countries, one backpack each. I miss that year, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.¹

A watercolored rendition of a photo I took in Burano, Italy (2015).

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5 Quick Things ☕️

1. One surprising takeaway from that year of living out of a backpack: I absolutely loved having a super-limited wardrobe. I thought I’d get sick of it, but when we returned and rolled up our storage unit door, I was annoyed at all the stuff — including my boxes of clothes — and wouldn’t have minded if it all caught fire while we were gone (and we were already fairly minimalist). I averaged roughly three shirts, two bottoms, two pairs of shoes, and a few accessories. I jettisoned some stuff along the way (thrift stores are everywhere), picked up other things when the weather shifted, and regretted nothing. To this day, I sometimes like to play the mental game of What Would I Pack If I Were Going On That Trip Tomorrow.

2. Another key takeaway: Ordinary life is often better than the rare highlights. We purposely curated our year’s activities to include both big adventures and lots of down time in-between, and sure enough, for years afterwards when we’d ask the kids for a family memory from that school year, they’d answer the time we housesat for friends for six weeks in Australia and the house had a backyard trampoline, or when we stayed for a month in a guesthouse in southern France — a cottage nestled in an olive oil farm — and they had plenty of green space to run wild and create a little Terabithia secret from the adults, or the guesthouses in Singapore or Uganda because that had — get this — BUNK BEDS. Not the Great Wall in China, the Southern Alps of New Zealand (aka the Misty Mountains), or the ancient narrow covered alleys of the old city of Fez in Morocco. Cool stuff, like pepperoni pizza in Thailand.

3. This year my daughter (hi, kiddo! I know you’re a subscriber) is the editorial assistant for her university’s newspaper, and this week her first editorial debuted. I love that her theme is essentially a theme we’ve talked about as a family for years: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from life and the wise people in it, it’s that it’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than it is to think your way into a new way of acting.”

4. This week I made homemade tallow lotion and I am in LOVE. I’d heard for several years now that it’s a game-changer, but it’s only been recently that I’ve had a big ol’ tub of tallow with which to experiment. I conglomerated several recipes from the internet to make my own… About 16 ounces of melted and cooled tallow + two tablespoons of vitamin E oil, stirred together and cooled until relatively hardened in the fridge. I then emptied it into the mixer, added some essential oils, and whisked until my preferred consistency of fluffy and smooth. DONE. A tiny bit goes a long way, so according to my super-scientific eyeballing of my jam jar full of lotion, I’ve got enough to last until Easter.

5. And finally… This past Sunday was Michaelmas, or St. Michael the Archangel’s feast day on the liturgical calendar. I’ve long had an affinity for him (even before becoming Catholic), and I’m routinely bummed that his feast day falls during a particularly busy time of year for me. Nonetheless, I love reading about the tradition of Michaelmas, particularly its agrarian ties, and I knew

Kristin Haakenson

wouldn’t let me down — here she unpacks the history, her personal reflections on the season, and of course, downloadable art for those of us who subscribe. I love her talent: “And so, I forge on with these old Michaelmas traditions, because they train my heart along a trellis of truth, something I can lean on in faith whether I can conjure the emotions or not.”

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Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📚

Every Moment Holy, Vol. III: The Work of the People, compiled by Douglas McKelvey

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Quotable 💬

“I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.”

― Mary Anne Radmacher

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Rhine River 2025 ⚓️

There’s already 30+ folks already signed up for next summer’s pilgrimage and it’ll probably fill fast! If you’re hesitating, now’s the time to go and secure your spot as we float down the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Zurich in our own boat, discussing everyday liturgy, creating our Rules of Life, and more.

I’d love you to join! These pilgrimages, without question, are the highlight of my year. I love spending this time with you.

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What’s your favorite thing about fall? 🍁

My answer is definitely the drop in temps… If we had a semblance of changing leaf colors I’d probably answer with the majority (it was definitely the highlight of my year when we lived in Oregon). They’ll turn a little bit yellow around here come Thanksgiving time, and I’ll take it. In the meantime, I’m just thrilled the highs won’t be in the 90s next week.

• The changing color of leaves: 46%

• The drop in temperature: 38.9%

• Pumpkin-spice (and other fall-specific) treats: 7%

• All the upcoming holidays on the way: 5.5%

• Football and other fall-specific sportsballs: 2.6%

Find next week’s poll here.

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Quick Links 🔗

• 📐Create your own Rule of Life

• 🎧 Listen to A Drink With a Friend

• 📖 Read my books

• 🛶 Join me along the Rhine River

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Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

Here’s an interesting question from author Morgan Housel (HT from James Clear): “Whose life do I admire that is secretly miserable?” …What might the answer to this say about what really matters?

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Have a great weekend,

- Tsh

p.s. - Japanese bluegrass? …I’m here for this.

1. I wrote a book about it, if you’re curious!