The trip is a go (8/23/05)Dec 15, 2005
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Shortly after learning of the trip, I was shaken inside with a memory........following is a paragraph excerpted from the eulogy I wrote for my mom over two years ago:
"My mother was an adventurer. She traveled all over the world...I think she's been nearly everywhere but Antarctica! Most recently, I think, were her trips to Guatemala and then to Brazil a year later. She was so touched by the way these people lived...so poor in material wealth, yet so gentle in spirit and cooperative in nature."
Weeks later, when I saw the entire itinerary, I realized that one of the port stops in Brazil is Recife, which is the last place my mother traveled out of the country......and how weird is it that I even mentioned Antarctica(?!), I was really just trying to make the lighthearted point that one of the few places she didn't go was a pretty untraveled-to destination. Now I am appreciating and savoring the fact that it seems a beautiful metaphor for the next generation traveling to where the previous generation has gone....and then beyond to uncharted territory. And I will be able to use some of the money that she left me......and know that a part of her essence is joyfilled for me.
The explorer part of me that loves the journey (both inner and outer) is practically uncontained! The part of me that has grieved the fact that we come to this beautiful planet and many of us rarely venture beyond our backyards, is moved to tears. I am deeply touched to have this incredible chance and feel the magnitude of it on many levels. It truly feels like an exclamation point at the end of a chapter in my life and also a passageway as I embark on a new chapter.....new book, really.
