scratching an itch

Since I was a young girl dreaming of princesses and fairy tales, I have wanted to travel and see the world. Despite growing up in a rural area, I was blessed to travel in the U.S. during high school through church youth trips. In college, my traveling was limited because of work and classes - and a lack of funds! Now, I save money and deal with hand-me-down furniture, so that I can scratch my travel itch.

Traveling has given me such a broader worldview. Seeing how others live, the multitude of different normals and the variety of people and cultures God created never gets old. Each trip I take, whether domestic or international, I learn something new. If you've looked at my list (see the link at the top of the page), you probably notice that most of the things I want to do involve travel and seeing famous sites. But, some of the best travel memories involve the minute details of travel - sitting in a coffee shop with Big Ben right outside the window in London, eating the best garlic bread in the world in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Otavalo, Ecuador, drinking tea in the car on a ferry in Ireland.

Here are a few quotes I've found about travel:

• The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~ St.Augustine
• I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. ~ Mark Twain
• Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.  ~Mark Twain
• To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. ~ Aldous Huxley
• Without travel, I would have wound up a little ignorant white Southern female, which was not my idea of a good life. ~ Lauren Hutton
• Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. ~ Helen Keller
• Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. ~ Miriam Beard
• When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~ Susan Heller
• Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings. ~ Hodding Carter
• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  ~ Mark Twain 

I love almost all aspects of travel (security checkpoints do get old, as does unpacking!). But, I love making a schedule, researching things to do, planning must see adventures. While you're traveling, there's an unexplained adrenaline - a high, if you will - that makes anything seem possible. Yes, I can travel all night and immediately spend the entire day sightseeing (been there, done that - Ireland 2009!). A few months after returning home, you look through photos and wonder why you planned the day like that and how you ever did it, not to mention claim that it could never be done again. But, a few months later, you get a travel itch and need to scratch it...and start making an agenda that might involve flying for hours and then immediately jumping with both feet in to a day of adventure.

Yes, Vietnam, here I come!

Roots

When I was getting ready to graduate, I wanted to move away from Alabama. Not because I don't like where I grew up, not because I want to leave the South, but simply for a new adventure. Possibly, because it was something my siblings hadn't done. Being the youngest, it can be difficult to find things to do that the others haven't already done.

Sometimes I am sort of the black sheep of the kids - the one who does things differently and the others don't understand. Other times, I am so much like them that you can definitely see we all grew up together (well, sort of, minus the age gap).

The older I get...as I grow and meet people from other cultures...I start reviewing my own culture. Through the generations, the cultures my ancestors came from have been lost or forgotten. We don't eat a lot of food passed down - like if we lived in Minnesota or Michigan with Polish influence. We don't dress in kilts for special events, even though some ancestors are Scottish and Irish. I have a melting pot of several European countries...and possibly others. But for the most part, all the customs have been lost. I am the "melting pot" that is America. I have American customs and culture.

For me, my culture is the South. The good, the bad, the ugly. Additionally, I have a small town culture. I don't know if I realized how much small town was in me until I moved from a college town (another culture in its own right) to a small town - not where I grew up, but in the same state. Things happen that my friends don't understand. Knowing everyone's business. Waving when you're driving down the road and pass someone. Not being able to do anything after 12 on Wednesdays. Not being able to go out to eat after 8 p.m. Not having a variety of restaurants - and definitely no delivery! No Walmart.

Sidebar: When did Wal-mart become Walmart? I have recently realized that there is no longer a hyphen in the signs or insignia. There used to be. I'm sure.

Back to the topic: I am not a small-town girl. But, I get the culture. I can cope. I can survive. Sure, it's probably not what I had pictured in my life dream. But for now, it's home. And once a week, I escape to the city...even if it's a small one. And I admit it, sometimes I thrive on it. Not dealing with traffic (other than people who refuse to use blinkers and not drive the speed limit). Having community. Being able to go completely from one side of town to the other (and maybe the next town) in 5 or 10 minutes.

Maybe dreams change. What you have pictured evolves over time. When I was young, I colored all the time. Sometimes, mom bought me those huge coloring books that have no rhyme or reason to the pages, just lots of activities. Other times, the book had a theme - animals, cartoon characters. I think life dreams are kind of like themed coloring books. Each page is a little different, and if you don't like how you colored a particular page or element on the page, just flip to the next one to try it a little differently.

After searching the US for a job, I realized I wanted to stay in the South for now. Maybe one day I'll venture out and try another culture. For now, Alabama is still home, I'm just in a different part of the state. I'm learning about hills, groundhogs and things that make this area unique. I get to forget about love bugs. I get to miss the beach. But, through it all. I get to explore - my culture, the ones I visit and those I meet through work.

So, go color a picture...or a whole coloring book. And think about culture - what you value, what you don't - the good, the bad, the ugly. Which stereotypes are true? Which ones are false? Which ones would people not understand if they aren't part of it? Remember...stay in the lines, but be creative!