I don’t do it regularly. But every once in a while I make myself some (outrageous?) goals. I put a date on them. Put them out to the world. Take baby steps towards them. And then the world opens up, embraces my idea, gives me an avenue I’d never imagined, and hands me my wish…
Tag: travel
Best Moments of 2015
I did this last year, and had such a good time doing it, I thought I’d do it again. So voila: the best moment of 2015 (in no particular order). With apologies for everything I forgot. It was an eventful year! The moment I booked my flight to Nicaragua. (That was a Monday. I left three…
My Third Thing
“A choice between two things is not a choice. It becomes a fight between right or wrong.” I read the sentence again. As the afternoon sun warmed the page, I pulled out my pen to underline it. I had never thought of it like that. No wonder I hate making decisions. “We need a third thing,…
Motherhood? No Thanks.
While wandering around a bookstore in LaGuardia airport, the cover of TIME magazine caught my eye. “CHILDFREE” stood out in bold, block letters. A couple in swimsuits laid on a white sand beach below the words, “The Childfree Life: When having it all means not having children.” I picked it up and flipped to the article,“When None is Enough.”…
All By Myself
“Did you go with anyone?” she asked. I was at a Camino talk hosted by our local chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino. Future pilgrims come not just to hear the presentation, but to ask their questions to those of us that have been there. “No, I went alone,” I told her. “Really? You went to…
Free-Spirited Spinster?
I stood on the front porch of the Unwound yarn shop in Blowing Rock, NC, chatting with three women I’d met just a few minutes earlier inside the shop. They were on a day trip to the area. I was two weeks into my sabbatical year, taking my sweet old time driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway….
A Toast: To Not Drinking My Way to Happiness
“I called to say I love you,” I told my father. “Have you been drinking?” he asked. “No.” “Oh–you sound really happy.” I was, but his surprise at my happiness stopped me cold. Was it really that unusual that I sound happy? Perhaps it was because calls to Dad always had a purpose, and–like him–I…
Me? An Introvert?
“Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?” he asked me. We met just three hours earlier, and already our conversation had covered religion and poverty, our life stories, and now personal reflection. But this happens all the time when I get in a conversation with the unconventional-traveler types: in this case, a couchsurfer….
Quit a Job to Go To Italy? A Story about Motivation
In January of 2006, while on a beach in the Florida Keys with two dear friends from my college days, my mother called me. After exchanging pleasantries about my trip, my mother got to her point. “So your grandmother joined a senior citizens group. And guess what the first thing was on the agenda of…
My Back Pocket
I have a piece of paper in my back pocket. My figurative back pocket, that is. In reality, the paper sits in a green file folder marked, “PT License.” The paper was issued by the state of New York. License #020405. I received it after successfully completing an accredited physical therapy curriculum and passing a…
RenaissanceRebecca 