As our adventure comes to a close with our return to Maine tomorrow, we are reviewing the year and trying to get a handle on what it all has meant to us. Our heads are full of so many beautiful sights: the volcanoes and bold colors of Guatemala, the turquoise water of the Caribbean, the mysterious golden culture of Thailand, the peaceful temples - and wide sidewalks - of Laos, the tidy tea plantations and enormous monuments of India, the misty moody hills of Scotland, the quaint hedgerows and lovely seaside towns of England, the medieval towns of Spain, the vineyards and mountains of southwest France, and the bright green rolling meadows of Ireland. And that's just a taste - a good dollop, mind you - but just a taste of the world's gifts that we experienced.
It was an incredible privilege to have this opportunity to spend a year exploring the world. The highest privilege was being invited into people's homes and into their lives for a moment - real lives where transitions were taking place, where personal losses were being grieved, where a new home was being planned or where uncertain financial futures were being wrestled with, where serious health problems brought re-evaluations of life-style, where young people were working hard to gain an education and were setting out on their own adventures, some graduating after many years of study, where parents were joyfully anticipating a child's wedding or dubiously looking forward to the life changes that retirement would bring, We weren't escaping from life; we were jumping into the middle of it everywhere that we went! We have been impressed by the young people that we've met who are so creative and hard-working and ambitious and desirous of all the good stuff in life that American youth want.
There were experiences of spirituality in huge historic Christian places of worship in Europe, in a modern airy church in Asia, in a damp chapel carved out of a mountainside in France, in an ancient abbey on a tiny windswept island off the coast of Scotland, in a small friendly church in Guatemala, in mysterious Buddhist temples smelling of incense. Those were the formal, intended places of worship. There were other places, natural locations so beautiful that they brought an unexpected prayer to mind.
There were funny times, too, like when monkeys came after me in India. I yelled for Bruce's help while trying to distract the little buggers by throwing my sunglasses at them (it didn't work!). There were scary times in the backseat of an Indian taxi driven by a maniac on narrow twisting roads. There were moments when we wondered why we were wandering around the world, so far from home, and moments of boredom and loneliness - and lots of lovely moments as recipients of generosity and kindness and fun, and great gratitude for our good fortune in having this incredible experience.
What have we learned? How have we changed? Would we do it again? Do we still have some wanderlust?
Well, these last two are the easiest to answer, given that we are still jotting down places that we'd like to see and noting tidbits of info, like the fact that Ryan Air plans to begin service from Ireland to Gdansk, Poland. Ahh, so many interesting places still to explore and so much to learn about the world. I don't think that we have another long adventure in us - but shorter ones still appeal. It's been a tremendous amount of work to get this endeavor to unroll as smoothly as it has - and it has all been done by Bruce! Thanks to him, we never had a night without a bed or were left stranded by the side of the road or found our bank account empty when we needed it! But the time and stress involved with arranging hotels, B&B's, apartments, houses, Woofing, visas, buses, trains, flights, ferries, car rentals, credit card payments, money transfers, new currencies and phone cards in every country - with internet service that was often dodgy - it's been a HUGE undertaking! Bravo to him. No wonder I'm the one who wants to get out and see, do, experience every day while he wants to take it slow and easy.
What have we learned about ourselves? Well, I know now that I have a pretty good sense of direction and that we're both pretty flexible, that Bruce is surprisingly more cautious than I in many situations, that he is incredibly good at aforementioned planning. We both are more acutely aware of the disparities between the "have's" and "have not's" in the world - and the incredible sweetness and generosity of those who have very little in the way of material goods. If we have any regrets, it's that we might have done more in the way of being of service to those very people. Overall, it's been a proverbial blast! It's hard to let go of such a wonderful experience, but we are ready now to rejoin our families and friends, to reconnect with those whose roots and histories we share, and to reclaim our lives back home.
As the year has unfolded and we've written blog after blog, we've often wondered who was reading them and what their reactions were. We'd love to have some feedback, thoughts, reactions, etc. You could send them to my email at: lwebb34@gmail.com. Thanks and cheerio!
It was an incredible privilege to have this opportunity to spend a year exploring the world. The highest privilege was being invited into people's homes and into their lives for a moment - real lives where transitions were taking place, where personal losses were being grieved, where a new home was being planned or where uncertain financial futures were being wrestled with, where serious health problems brought re-evaluations of life-style, where young people were working hard to gain an education and were setting out on their own adventures, some graduating after many years of study, where parents were joyfully anticipating a child's wedding or dubiously looking forward to the life changes that retirement would bring, We weren't escaping from life; we were jumping into the middle of it everywhere that we went! We have been impressed by the young people that we've met who are so creative and hard-working and ambitious and desirous of all the good stuff in life that American youth want.
There were experiences of spirituality in huge historic Christian places of worship in Europe, in a modern airy church in Asia, in a damp chapel carved out of a mountainside in France, in an ancient abbey on a tiny windswept island off the coast of Scotland, in a small friendly church in Guatemala, in mysterious Buddhist temples smelling of incense. Those were the formal, intended places of worship. There were other places, natural locations so beautiful that they brought an unexpected prayer to mind.
There were funny times, too, like when monkeys came after me in India. I yelled for Bruce's help while trying to distract the little buggers by throwing my sunglasses at them (it didn't work!). There were scary times in the backseat of an Indian taxi driven by a maniac on narrow twisting roads. There were moments when we wondered why we were wandering around the world, so far from home, and moments of boredom and loneliness - and lots of lovely moments as recipients of generosity and kindness and fun, and great gratitude for our good fortune in having this incredible experience.
What have we learned? How have we changed? Would we do it again? Do we still have some wanderlust?
Well, these last two are the easiest to answer, given that we are still jotting down places that we'd like to see and noting tidbits of info, like the fact that Ryan Air plans to begin service from Ireland to Gdansk, Poland. Ahh, so many interesting places still to explore and so much to learn about the world. I don't think that we have another long adventure in us - but shorter ones still appeal. It's been a tremendous amount of work to get this endeavor to unroll as smoothly as it has - and it has all been done by Bruce! Thanks to him, we never had a night without a bed or were left stranded by the side of the road or found our bank account empty when we needed it! But the time and stress involved with arranging hotels, B&B's, apartments, houses, Woofing, visas, buses, trains, flights, ferries, car rentals, credit card payments, money transfers, new currencies and phone cards in every country - with internet service that was often dodgy - it's been a HUGE undertaking! Bravo to him. No wonder I'm the one who wants to get out and see, do, experience every day while he wants to take it slow and easy.
What have we learned about ourselves? Well, I know now that I have a pretty good sense of direction and that we're both pretty flexible, that Bruce is surprisingly more cautious than I in many situations, that he is incredibly good at aforementioned planning. We both are more acutely aware of the disparities between the "have's" and "have not's" in the world - and the incredible sweetness and generosity of those who have very little in the way of material goods. If we have any regrets, it's that we might have done more in the way of being of service to those very people. Overall, it's been a proverbial blast! It's hard to let go of such a wonderful experience, but we are ready now to rejoin our families and friends, to reconnect with those whose roots and histories we share, and to reclaim our lives back home.
As the year has unfolded and we've written blog after blog, we've often wondered who was reading them and what their reactions were. We'd love to have some feedback, thoughts, reactions, etc. You could send them to my email at: lwebb34@gmail.com. Thanks and cheerio!
