We’re leaving tonight! If all goes right, we’ll leave this evening and land “tomorrow” in Brussels in the evening, putting aside the 9 hour time change.
As if on cue, today has been dominated by last minute work popping up, mostly last-minute decisions on our basement renovation. I’m happy enough with where things stand now, and I am so looking forward to the moment, so soon, when that is all behind me, and there’s literally nothing I can do about it from Europe, and I don’t have to worry about it for weeks and glorious weeks.
In case you don’t know, this trip is a lifelong dream for Stef. She never had the time and/or money to travel like this, so she’s been anticipating this for decades. We’re very thankfully unconstrained by money needs or health problems (or a certain infirm cat’s health problems), so she’s been able to freely pursue her goals at nearly every step of the way. I’m so glad to see her able to do this and, frankly, so passionate about it. It’s something that a lot of people, myself included, have nearly stopped doing at our age. She is a huge inspiration for me and a joy to travel with.
Daniel is right, this is a very special trip for me. I would have loved to go with the French class to Paris, or spend a semester abroad, or backpack around Europe for 2 months in college, but we’re a family of modest means, and that was never in the cards. To go under my own steam and virtually unrestrained by financial concerns is, quite frankly, a redemption story. To go with my best friend, my sounding board, my favorite traveling companion Fatberry – oh, I mean, DAN – is exciting, and a privilege. He’s got such an observant and artistic eye, a dazzling scope of thought, and often a beginner’s mind, and I can’t wait to see these places from our shared perspective.
It’s an undercurrent of sadness that 6 weeks away is only possible because we have no kitty friends left who need us. I miss our little guy, but I knew – correctly, it turns out – that this trip would give meaning and purpose to our loss. Having something exciting to look forward to and focus on has really helped time to do its healing thing.
Also undergirding this trip is the generosity of my manager and my workplace; they were under no obligation to let me go for this long, and it’s no small sacrifice to them. I am grateful for their support.
I’ve been so anxious! Would one of us break a bone? Experience financial calamity? Need to drop everything and care for someone who needed us? There are a thousand ways this day might have never come. But it is here and we are as ready as we can be. We are fortunate beyond measure. We are on our way.