hello from the other side (of the border).
a month ago, i didn't have any plans to leave the country. i didn't even have a passport.
today, i am in canada. (insert the canadian flag emoji here, as i have been doing in every imessage i've sent today.)
it's all very exciting. i woke up at 8am to walk into a building and tell them i've never been to canada before ("really? never?" was the response i got) and also that i wasn't bringing anything into the country. and then we got back on the bus and kept driving, business as usual. except with "tangled" playing on the tv and lake ontario out the window.
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my first night on the bus, i rode to atlanta with some of the band members, none of whom i'd previously met. honestly, i was a little terrified about what i was getting myself into, but it was mostly that fear of saying "yes," and not about what might go wrong.
bus call was at midnight and, consistent with your average tour schedule, that meant i'd be sleeping on a moving bus.
here is what that experience is like: you know that feeling of almost falling asleep and then jolting awake because you think you're falling? it's that, except you're actually moving so you have a legitimate reason to believe you're falling.
i didn't sleep until we stopped, and i spent most of the night alternating between two thoughts.
one) HOW DO PEOPLE DO THIS.
two) I'M ON A TOUR BUS.
pro tip: melatonin helps. also, that falling feeling doesn't last past the first night.
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being hired as a nanny on the road means also working on off days, travel days, and days we're back in nashville. (it also means having stress dreams every night that one of the kids needs to be fed or dressed or something, only to wake up and realize you're in your bunk, everyone is sleeping, and you should be too.)
the first part was pre-tour work. there was a thing in atlanta, a thing in chicago, and days of rehearsals back in nashville. my schedule was weird and i had a lot of people asking, "wait, what's your schedule again?" or "where are you?" and i didn't really have time to sit down and contemplate it all, but now that i have a minute, it's incredible to see how my life went from nothing to everything, all at once. it's been such a fun adventure.
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in chicago (wheaton, technically), we were on the beautiful wheaton college campus. on this day, and what'll happen on any day we don't have activities planned, we walked around to look for something entertaining to do. or, if nothing else, to breathe fresh air. fortunately, there was a public library about a block away with an entire floor of children's books and activities.
back in nashville, we played hide and seek, during which i hid under this tiny kid's table and wasn't found for probably two whole minutes, as the kids were distracted by their intense search on the other side of the room.
this sunset showed up on my instagram feed thirteen times.
cincinnati. (although, i think we were technically in kentucky here? i don't know geography.) this building was neat.
generally, we have a couple hotel rooms in each city for showering or napping or whatever anyone might need that they can't get on the bus or from the venue. this hotel had a parrot in the lobby, so i snapped a parrot selfie with my best impressions of H's llama selfie face.
atlanta again. i don't actually know where i was. a hotel? a venue? but i went to the bathroom (sans kids) and noticed a ferris wheel outside the window when i passed by.
toronto. this is a view from the parking lot we were parked in. i'm pretty sure the cn tower is behind me, and i'm pretty sure i didn't know the significance of the cn tower at the time i took this photo. in fact, the photo i took of the cn tower (at the top of this post) was one i took because i thought it looked cool and figured it might be significant but only quickly snapped while walking down the street pushing a stroller.
another stroller snap.
lastly, to document our passing over lake ontario, with callie on the windowsill. also, the moment i learned the names of the five great lakes. because, like i said, i'm not great with geography.