Departure Time? Someday!

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

A month from today my baby boy will board a plane to Paris, France, tour it for a week, and then, after a short stop in Dublin, Ireland, head on to his campus of choice for his semester abroad study, a Christian campus in Lithuania. Every time I say Lithuania, I chuckle, because my dear sweet mother cannot say Lithuania. ;-) She puts a few too many L's in there. 

Andrew decided back in February that he would study abroad for this coming fall semester. We were absolutely fine with that decision. In fact, both Steve and I really desired that our sons would avail themselves of an opportunity that was never afforded either one of us. When we college shopped with our sons, an abroad program was on the Need to Know if You Do This list. Andrew had a fantastic first year of college and we have marveled at the strengthening of his confidence and interests, of "watching" from 877 miles his maturing into a young man. He had a game plan from the beginning when he proposed to us that he study abroad, and he has stayed at school this summer to work on campus and live free while doing it. 

Now, same song, second verse! About three weeks ago, our oldest son let us know that he was tired of putting it off, and he had checked into it, and he wanted to also study abroad. He finally said, "To heck with it!" and we agreed. #yolo Now, Philip had originally registered for Vienna for spring 2015, but he changed his mind and cancelled that registration in October 2014. I was inwardly very sad that he did that, but the sphere of influence gets smaller as the child gets older. Every time we broached the subject with him, he assured us it was out of the realm of possibility because of academic offerings and staying on track, etc., etc., etc. So, imagine our delight when he told us he was ready to do what he needed to do to make it happen! We asked, "When?" and gulped quickly when he replied "This fall!" Me, "As in August? As in 2 months from now?" and he happily replied, "YES!"

Okay. Okay. Two sons in Europe. Okay, okay. I can do that. No hyperventilating necessary. Breathe deep. May as well! If one will be gone for Thanksgiving, why not two? Knock it all out at the same time, right? Philip applied to and was accepted at their Florence campus, so now, yes, we will have both boys studying abroad, one in Lithuania and one in Florence. Yikes! Once we got over the initial shock of his late in the day proposal, we were both so very thrilled that our sons will have this opportunity! Simultaneously, no less!

And it made me ponder all of the things they will have the chance to do, and see. And it made me recall that, if you discount my 3 Caribbean cruises, where let's face it, so many ports look alike, I only have left North America once, back in 1986, which is nearly 30 years ago! Double yikes! When the boys were younger, we were all about showing them various scenic sights in the United States. And we would never dream of leaving them...and didn't want to take a "big trip" until they were old enough to embrace it and remember it....

So many domestic trips later, I have wonderful vacation memories, but a very empty passport! And now we are knee deep in two sets of tuition payments, so I am not sure exactly when I will get to Europe! But, I am going someday! {And I say Europe because I do not desire to go to Asia or Africa or South America. And I've already been to Australia. That was my 1986 trip.} When I was thinking about all of this, I thought to myself, "Where would I go? Where do I want to go? Write it down! Time is running out!" 

The list is long! Ireland is probably near the top of my list. And then Italy! Oh, Tuscany, Rome, Florence! Yes, please! Venice? Maybe. If you twist my arm. ;-) And London, yes! And Scotland, yes! And Paris? Oui, oui!! If for no other reason than to eat a croissant! And yes, I would like to see Greece I believe. Austria? Yes. I heard the hills are alive there! And Denmark for the tulips, and Belgium for the chocolate! 

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm ready to have my great affair and move! I think that is a pretty good list. Fairly robust! I don't know as I will get to all of them. But, I decided I needed to document this desire to help make my dreams come true. I put down 4. I intend to eventually come back and do a companion page for this layout, adding 4 more destinations to my list. I'll add Ireland and Tuscany and Austria and Greece, I guess. And maybe before too much longer, I'll be planning a real itinerary and then someday maybe, just maybe, I'll actually scrap some photos of these places that I took, because I got there.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things 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 don't want to have any regrets. I'm ready to explore, dream, discover! Have suitcase, will travel. Departure time? Someday!

My Europe Wishlist ~ Documenting My Bucket List ~ 2015

Layout featured in the July issue of  CREATE  by Scrapbook Generation

Sketch Credit: Scrapbook Generation 

Paper: We R Memory Keepers

Title Font: Pacifico