Hey friends,

I hope you're all doing wonderfully. It's been a busy month for our family. I've been working a ton and having the kids visit set each day. It's been a month of deep thinking and future planning, it's also been a month of being in the trenches.

Mark has been away this month, it's the longest we have ever been away from him. He won't be back for another 3.5 weeks. It's been a period of massive change and also a beautiful lesson in diving into the challenge in order to find the gems. Sometimes when something feels hard, it's just about changing your perspective. Taking a breath and accepting all that the world is throwing at you, understanding that perhaps in there somewhere is a gift that is hiding itself away until the right moment.

The first few weeks of November were "the dark ages" as they were so aptly named! Bodhi, then Forest, then I got sick. Between the 3 of us, no one was sleeping. I was up every hour or so with a sick babe, all of us snuggled and snotty in bed together. Having zero sleep can feel torturous. Forest would wake and stir every hour as he fought off the fever, I'd finally get him to sleep and I would be drifting off again, when Bodhi would wake up coughing! That would in turn wake Forest and then by the time my 5:45am alarm went off I'd had about 3 hours of broken sleep and was expected to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a full days filming.

It was a really relentless cycle and I slipped into feeling some resentment towards Mark for being away. We had both decided that he would take this acting gig, it is something he is excited about, he is happy to be providing for our family and it just felt like the right fit, so we decided to just go with it and roll with the punches. I think it's so important in a relationship to check in with each other and to make sure that each other are doing "them" enough. I wanted that for Mark, and we decided we would just make it work. It's been working, not without its trials, but we are doing it! Luckily Mark is the most loving and supportive partner that he was happy to allow me to voice my frustrations and vulnerabilities. In it and through it!

Given all this travel and changes to our life it's got me thinking a lot about education and the type of schooling that seems realistic for our kids. I've been really interested in the idea of a global education, or world school as it's also known. Our friends, the Blairs, have been doing this kind of schooling with their children who are now 18, 16 and 11. They are the most well rounded, hyper intellectual, globally aware, cultured kids with the most compassion for humanity that I've ever seen in children that age. I'm so inspired by them, and as a family that travels because of our jobs, it's highly gratifying to see another family making it work. They are embracing the idea of non traditional schooling and exposing their children to different cultures and settings. Turning travel into educational experiences for the children is something that we are excited to do and it means that we get keep our family united.

Happy Thanksgiving friends! I hope everyone had a lovely time with their families and friends. I'm writing this en route to the Thanksgiving dinner we are having with Isaac's other parents Frankie and Zach and their families. Today I'm grateful to be in a committed and healthy co-parenting relationship with them. I'm also grateful for this community, for you guys and for all the parents in the world doing their best to raise the next generation of conscious game changers.

Till next month ❤️

Mama Thoughts in November by Teresa Palmer