Picking Up The Pen Again

Parker, Colorado

Written by Karen.
Dear Readers:

It wasn’t supposed to be this long.  This period of time when I laid down my pen...errrr... shut off my computer for awhile.  But, somehow the days turned into weeks and finally into a month, and now here we are - in the beginning of September.  Phoof!  There just went August!  

Thanks for the emails and questions of how we are doing.  Many of you wondered if we are still in Wyoming and thus were checking up on us. The emails and questions are all very much appreciated.  You - as readers of this journey we call life blog - are very much appreciated!

So, what happened? Well, in a word....life happened. The good stuff: high school graduations; Ph.D graduations; more downsizing; more economic transitions; 70th birthday celebrations; 80th birthday celebrations; hanging out with family and friends.  The sad stuff: the sudden death of my cousin, who was just one year younger than me.  She was the first in my generation to pass away.  

Life doesn’t change in its complexities because we have chosen to travel for a year or two, but in a very fundamental way it becomes simpler.  Because we are in charge of how we spend our time, we can adjust our plans, go with the flow, and spend time with family and friends.  And, over the past few months, this flexibility and ability to spend time with friends and family has been an unexpected and much appreciated gift. 

As a result, our round-the-world trip isn’t going exactly in a straight line lately!  We are zigging and zagging, stopping and starting, and that is completely okay!  

For those of you who don’t have GPS, we aren’t in Wyoming anymore.  We are actually in Berlin, Germany at this very moment.  Big leap, huh?  How’d we get here, you may be wondering?  I’ve gone back and forth with myself between sharing current stories starting in Europe or finishing up stories from our shortened road trip in the USA.  It’s a risk, but I’m going to stick with finishing up the Western USA road trip first.  The Western United States is an amazing place and there are still stories to share! 

Thanks again for your caring support, dear readers.  This journey that we are all on - this journey that we all call life - is full of ups and downs, twists and turns, unspeakable sadness and unspeakable joys.  But, in the end, our journey is all about our experiences and our relationships with each other.  These are the things that matter and what we hold dear - and I’d like to resume sharing them with you.