When I met my friend Todd in Avignon he challenged me to bring proper closure to the trip through the blog and to not just let it die of neglect once I got back to Vancouver.
Originally when I got back I thought of doing a "Best Of" blog that would allow me to reflect and recapture the feeling of being "out there." Well, I've been back in Vancouver now for a week. The "Best Of" blog just ain't happening. At least not yet anyway. Maybe once the photos get organized.
Now tomorrow marks the day I have tried to ignore the most - the dreaded "I have to go back to work day." I am certainly not dreading the chance to see many friends and colleagues and bore them with tales of world travel. It's the routine that work brings with it, and the threat of the "rut" that I have realized I can so easily fall back into and so dearly wish to avoid. I remember coming home 20 years ago from backpacking in the South Pacific and being so keen to see more. Then work and life happens and 20 years goes by before you even realize it. I am so thankful for the chance to be able to finally both see and do more. The way I look at a map is now irrevocably changed. The challenge is to remember the awesome feeling that accompanied seeing things both long-awaited and those discoveries that were unexpected. That way this "hiatus" will be a short one and we will once again be out there.
But that's for a later date. Now it's time to figure out what I should wear to work (ugh - socks) and to complete one last end of trip ritual. We started collecting friendship bracelets on the trip. One for every country that we visited. It was quite foreign to me, as I didn't really "do" jewelry of any kind, but I found I really got into it. But just as they once went on, now it is the time that they come off. At least all but one. I figure I'll keep one on as a little memento of my other life (along with the tattoos). It can ride solo until it is once again joined by others.
Originally when I got back I thought of doing a "Best Of" blog that would allow me to reflect and recapture the feeling of being "out there." Well, I've been back in Vancouver now for a week. The "Best Of" blog just ain't happening. At least not yet anyway. Maybe once the photos get organized.
Now tomorrow marks the day I have tried to ignore the most - the dreaded "I have to go back to work day." I am certainly not dreading the chance to see many friends and colleagues and bore them with tales of world travel. It's the routine that work brings with it, and the threat of the "rut" that I have realized I can so easily fall back into and so dearly wish to avoid. I remember coming home 20 years ago from backpacking in the South Pacific and being so keen to see more. Then work and life happens and 20 years goes by before you even realize it. I am so thankful for the chance to be able to finally both see and do more. The way I look at a map is now irrevocably changed. The challenge is to remember the awesome feeling that accompanied seeing things both long-awaited and those discoveries that were unexpected. That way this "hiatus" will be a short one and we will once again be out there.
But that's for a later date. Now it's time to figure out what I should wear to work (ugh - socks) and to complete one last end of trip ritual. We started collecting friendship bracelets on the trip. One for every country that we visited. It was quite foreign to me, as I didn't really "do" jewelry of any kind, but I found I really got into it. But just as they once went on, now it is the time that they come off. At least all but one. I figure I'll keep one on as a little memento of my other life (along with the tattoos). It can ride solo until it is once again joined by others.
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