ON SURPRISE PARTIES, TRAVEL & THE NEVER-ENDING STORY

I’d completely forgotten (until an hour ago) that today marks three years for A Place Called Roam.  Thanks for showing up for my surprise party!  Cheers!

It’s important we celebrate life – the friends, the family, the milestones, the magic. It’s imperative we share the joys, the sorrows, the memories, the hopes and dreams.   I don’t know about you, but I can’t go it alone.  Sharing is caring; and quite cathartic, too.

Did anybody bring cupcakes?  Liquid refreshments?  Presents? 

Never mind.  You’re here!  That’s all that really matters. 

Sooooooo; remember when we . . . 

. . . laughed at all the crazy things people say when it comes to travel?

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And discovered the addictive nature of travel.

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And how to cope when travel is not an option. 

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Remember when we . . . 

. . . discovered just how deadly Death Valley really can be?  

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 And just how ‘extremely’ beautiful that deadly desert?  

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Remember when . . . 

. . .  the moon turned blood red and everybody went gaga over the spectacle?  Talk about moonstruck!

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. . .   a walk in the woods proved ghostly?

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. . .   we got the chance to meet and greet the largest living creature on earth?  

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. . .   you listened while I struggled to cope with the tragic death of my brother-in-law, Rodney?  

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. . .   my bossy, BIG sister made me eat Swedish pancakes?  

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. . . going Dutch meant dining on Kinderdijk?

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. . .   life became a fairy tale called, “The Venice of the North?” 

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. . .   a visit to Amsterdam’s Red Light District almost proved a disaster?

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. . . a Kiss wasn't just a kiss?

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. . .   exercise didn’t leave your limbs feeling like stone?

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. . .   travel was all glamour and no grief?   

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I remember . . . 

. . . feeling like a kid again when I crossed the finish line four years ago (i.e. retired) and began thinking about this blog thingy; about the chance to do ANYTHING I wanted; to finally be my own boss, set my own schedule (ah, the joys of sleeping late!), have the world literally and figuratively at my fingertips. 

OMG! I certainly looked like a kid three years ago when I launched A Place Called Roam!  

The thing is, today is really all I have.  All the blessed yesterdays have added up to beautiful memories - memories with family, with old friends (well, they're just a little older, like me); and memories with new friends (Joan & Jerry, Lynn & Joel, Vivian & Harry, Cathy, Suzanne, Bernice, Sheila, Sam, Alice, Ellen, Dorothy, . . . well you get the picture) that might have never been if not for the travel, and if not for the never-ending story behind this blog.  Okay, maybe not never-ending, notwithstanding my propensity to go on and on and on and . . .  Just a hell of a lot of chapters, at least until I run out of things to say.   

I think this chapter may very well be the best one yet; of course, I felt that way at almost every bend in the road.  Life is truly what we make of it.  Adventure sounds good, feels right. Especially with the man of my dreams beside my side.           

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You remember Jimmy, right?

To my family, to old and new friends - thanks again for sharing the journey!  

If you're feeling really nostalgic, check out last year's raucous celebration covering highlights of the first two years of A Place Called Roam.  We rocked the house!