Travel - Magical Things Happen to Your Mind!

A few months ago for my Daddy's 80th birthday I hopped a plane SOLO to help him celebrate. (I usually travel with family so this was a little different for me!)

I was amazed at how this little personal adventure cleared away the stuff-y-ness of my very focused family life. (Homeschooling four children - enough said, two of which do competition gymnastics. This locks me into strict weekly routines of 15 hours of practice schedules that must be adhered to! With 3 weeks off a year! --Plus operating two family owned businesses! Whew...just thinking about it makes me practice my deep breathing exercises!)

Within the first hour of my journey, I had hopped a subway train to the airport. Anticipation of the moment traveling alone was a bit tense, but the execution sublime. It was absolutely freeing! I felt so alive, so insync with the world. Like shaking the dust off of my other independent self! I can almost see myself now (...wind blowing through my hair--"Arthur and D.W." style, I am effortlessly moving through throngs of people almost like the parting of the Red Sea...and I appear as if I know completely what I am doing! - Of course, I do know, I've traveled all over the world, worked as a travel agent and yada, yada, yada but when you've been inside a tightly focused world of children and their needs and involvements...the ole mind gets a little dusty!)

So here I am maneuvering the train, the baggage check in, the security check points, I finally find my WINDOW seat, smile kindly at the lady in the seat next to me (hoping that she's not a talkative type...not today! I want to be alone with my "Rip Van Winkle" thoughts...that have awakened out of a long sleep. ) There is just something magical about moving outside of our normal constraints! Magical indeed! Feeling alive, renewed, strengthened, rejuvenated!

Yes, that little trip did a lot to remind me that travel is good for the soul, mind and well...maybe even the body! Seneca, a Roman philosopher put it this way, and after this trip I must agree...

"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind!"