Me and travel

When Coleman said he was jealous of the travel I get to do, I had to do a double take.

Me? A traveler? Seriously? I included a synopsis of my traveling life in a response comment, but in case you didn't read it, I'm going to put it here too.

Coleman, I had to take a second look at your comment because it just floors me that anyone could be jealous of my travels. Here is the history of Lisa and traveling:

Ages 1-16: Occasional trips to West Tennessee and West Georgia to visit relatives. One family mission trip to New Mexico thrown in at the age of 6.

Ages 16-18: Chorus trips with school group that take me to New Hampshire, Florida, and Colorado with lots of stops to sing along the way. One day at Disney World. Two church trips to New Hampshire. One grandparent-led and cousin-including trip to Michigan to visit Michigan cousins.

Ages 19-40: Nowhere. Mostly I stayed home, had babies, and scuttled around between north Louisiana, SE Arkansas, Searcy, and West TN to visit family. A few trips to south Louisiana were thrown in for the same thing.

Ages 40 and beyond: Wow. Yeah. This is where you could maybe be jealous. Italy. California. Chicago. OK City. This trip to Charleston and Savannah. An upcoming trip to Savannah in the fall. They've almost all been work-related, but still -- yeah -- I've been blessed to see some wonderful things with some great people.

The whole time I was in Italy, I kept thinking, "this is not my life. I'm supposed to be home, cooking something for someone or folding clothes." It was surreal.

I'd love to get to do what you did -- spend an entire semester in another culture. I didn't do that in college because I got married at 19 and started the Mom job pretty early. What a blessing it was for you to be able to do that. :-)

Why am I making this a separate post? Mostly because I think it speaks highly to the seasons of life. When I was in my 20's and 30's and having babies and being a full time mom, I never would have guessed that some day I would get to go to Italy with my sister and not be in charge of anyone else the whole time I was there. That type of thing seemed like something that would only happen to other people. So all you moms out there: just because you don't get to get away now, it doesn't mean that you never will get to. Even when I went back to school and entered the work world, I had no idea that work-related conferences would take me to the places they have.

Being able to do this has also given me a renewed sense of hope and confidence in lots of areas. If I can figure out how to get from the airport to my hotel at midnight in a city I've never visited, I can surely figure out how to get kids from point A to point B when we have a tight schedule. If I found my away around downtown Chicago by myself, then I can sort out life complications. I navigated international airports without anyone telling me what I needed to do. I know those things may not seem like a big deal, but when you've never done it before -- it's a big deal.

So -- hang in there. If you have a bad case of wanderlust that you don't think will ever be filled, just wait. You never know what God has in store for you. If you are a traveler and get to go and do lots of things, don't take it for granted. I'm sure the lessons you've learned have enriched every area of your life.

God made us a big, beautiful world for us. Get out and see as much of it as you can.