To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can’t help but wonder what it’s like to be a world traveler like my father was. He was a career Navy man so his job took him all over the globe as he “sailed the seven seas”. He went to many exotic lands and while we always stayed stateside, he brought us back trinkets to cherish. He has seen things I can only imagine (and a few things I probably don’t want to know about lol).

Me? I’ve never been further east than Fargo, ND. 😄

I wasn’t entirely sheltered, though. I did grow up in California and Colorado have seen just about every part of those states. After I was married we lived in Washington and Montana and Wyoming and I’ve been to just about every state in the west.

I even went down into Mexico a few times but that’s it. Well, except that one time I walked over the Canadian border when we lived up in the Kootenai in Montana but that was an accident. 😄

I’ve never had a passport and I probably never will have one mostly because I don’t need it. Traveling far is too difficult on me and especially hard on whoever I go with so I tend to stay close to home these days. Home is safe. I’m not allergic to home.

Well, not entirely. There’s the pollen and wasps and smoke that fills the valley every summer. 😣

I used to dream of visiting all of the countries of my ancestors, which would be pretty much the entire European continent. Especially the Alpine lakes and lovely little villages with their thatched roofed cottages and fairytale-esque castles and…

Well, you know. My “backyard” except with more history!

Since I’m held hostage by my faulty immune system which makes the world a much more dangerous place than it already is, I’m forced to be content with living vicariously through other people’s travels and documentaries and live web cams from around the world.

And also by looking through all the photos I’ve taken from our travels from before I got so sick a few years ago. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that we traveled so much, but we did, and I’m glad I took a million photos to prove it.

Not that I don’t get out now and then because I do – we do – but it’s usually within a few hours from home and it’s quite the ordeal for me. I have to pace myself, avoid a million different potential triggers that can cause anaphylaxis and make sure I have plenty of EpiPens on hand just in case.

It’s funny, though, I am pretty content with going just up the road to my own “backyard”. I’ve already been to San Francisco and Las Vegas and Seattle in my youth and those don’t appeal to me at all these days.

I would like to go back to the beach again someday, though…

It’s been eye opening to say the least these last couple of years to talk to people who love to travel and to read travel bloggers talk about how difficult everything has been on them with the lockdowns and travel restrictions and now the price of fuel (and everything else) keeping them from doing what they love to do most.

I realized that long before all that I could totally relate to what they’ve been feeling. I was already in lockdown with travel restrictions and limited funds due to not being able to work anymore. I was even masked up before it became cool!

Somehow watching the world be forced into the severely limiting lifestyle my disease has forced me into didn’t bring me any comfort whatsoever. They say misery loves company but for me, that just isn’t true.

I’d much rather do this alone and let the rest of the world go back to doing what they do best (and then sharing it with me!). 🙂