I can’t help it. It’s kind of like saying that you don’t love one child any more than the other child. You just love them differently…for their differences. They are both loveable. And loved.

As I wander the streets of New Orleans, I find myself thinking about Brooklyn. (Weirdly, I don’t find myself thinking about Walnut Creek.) I’m constantly comparing and contrasting. One of my first thoughts was that there seems to be fewer rats here, though more cockroaches. I know. But that’s where my first observations went.

Both locations (Bed Stuy and the French Quarter) are incredibly walkable. They are conducive to stepping out the door, picking a direction and going. Our friend Scott calls it a “green man” walk. You never stop. If you come upon a red light (man/hand), you just turn in the direction of the green light. I find myself doing that here though there aren’t many lights. Mostly stop signs. And as our Uber driver and I agreed today, they are only suggestions. He thinks that all stop signs should be replaced with a sign that says “Suggested Stop”.

So how do BedStuy and the French Quarter compare and contrast? I need a venn diagram here. They both have lots of street art which I love. Sometimes the message is obvious; sometimes I don’t understand it, but that’s art, right?

They both have friendly passers by. They both have areas that you want to walk through quickly (read not-so-safe feeling). They both sadly have lots of unhoused. They both have plenty of parks and cafes. The sidewalks are all uneven, cracked, root-filled and “improved” in various ways that really aren’t an improvement. They are both VERY dog-friendly and dog-filled. Both places have a park at the end of our block though in BedStuy it was mostly for basketball and sitting around and here it is for dogs and sitting around.

How are they different? The French Quarter is smaller. I can walk in any direction (well there are only 3 directions unless I want to swim across the river) and quickly be out of it. We are surrounded by The Warehouse District, Treme and the Marigny. At least that is my understanding of the nearby neighborhoods. The boundaries are pretty smushy. When you get out of NOLA, you are in the country and it doesn’t take too long to do that whereas in BedStuy it was a train ride to hit the rural areas.

Here we have abundant high end and low end restaurants all around us whereas in BedStuy we had a couple favorite closeby places, but often hit the subway to another neighborhood. (Now that I think about it, here we leave the neighborhood to eat too, it just feels different for some reason.) We could eat somewhere new every day for our entire stay here and never get in a car or on a bus. Speaking of…no subway here. The public transit is not as user-friendly or accessible. But that’s another post. I walk farther to a market and the corner stores (bodegas) are mostly about liquor and sandwiches in the French Quarter. Our neighbors are mostly like us – temporary – either just hanging out for awhile, working on a movie, or being a “traveling nurse” whereas in BedStuy, we were surrounded by generational Brooklynites.

So which do I like better? Here or there? Neither. They’re just different and the same and both loved.

Oh. I haven’t found the perfect croissant here. I guess I’ll just have to make do with a beignet.

While we were in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, NY in 2021 we resided (lived?, stayed?) in a neighborhood of locals. Many of the locals had been there for well over 30 years. And, while it took a couple weeks to fully integrate, we were incredibly successful. JDT has stayed in contact with a few, and likely will.

New Orleans is different. First, there is little doubt that community is incredibly important to NOLA. They are very intentional in discussing the commitment AND make huge effort to be inclusive. It is a community that will let you in easily, I believe to a point. And yet, the area we are in is different. Don’t get me wrong, it is wonderfully situated on the edge of the Quarter and right next to the neighborhoods Treme and Marigny (pronounced MAR-eh-nee). Clearly this neighborhood is home to a very different group of people.

I was reading a local publication yesterday. A few articles on the upcoming JazzFest. By the way, the first since the onset of the pandemic. AND the community is so excited and anticipatory for its return. The free magazine has an article which is an interview with Ivan Neville – he of the iconic NOLA family, the Nevilles. Ivan is Aarons son; Art, Cyril and Charles’s nephew and Ian’s cousin (Art’s son), to only name the famous among them. I have been a fan of the Neville Brothers since the late 70s, early 80s. A regret is I never saw them perform live. Ivan and Ian are part of Dumpstaphunk. While I am less familiar with their work, I am incredibly excited to see them perform at JazzFest 2022. Another interview in the magazine was with Alex Wasily, the “bone” player for Dumpstaphunk. He resides most of the year in LA. In the interviews they are asked some common questions. Among them, where do they like to eat in NOLA. You see, food and eating is an incredibly important component of the NOLA culture. And Wasily kind of chuckled and said a Mexican food place in a part of town we had not ventured. JDT and I, being third generation Californians strive for variety in our dining. NOLA can be a bit “single note” for food if you let it. Doesn’t have to be, but it can be. So, I suggested we go to El Pavo Real. AND you know what, we just found our very first Mexican food place in the South that we REALLY enjoyed.

The Thomas family (JDT, Blair and Niels) has a thing about busses. They really do not like to use them. Let’s just say it is complicated. For me, it brings up wonderful remembrances around my Grandma. You know I have posted about Grandma extensively. She never had a drivers license. AND, while living in Oakland, she worked at Hunters Point Naval Yards during WWII. This was during the pre-BART, pre-phone app days that make it relatively easy to navigate public transit journeys. Grandma was very smart and very determined. While I never ventured out past Oakland on busses with Grandma, we did use AC Transit whenever we ventured together outside of the Diamond District. Grandma always made me feel safe, comfortable and confident on the busses.

So we jumped on the bus system to get to El Pavo Real. What took us 15 minutes to navigate back via Uber, took us 90ish minutes on the busses. Yes busses. We took the 88 to the 28. There were a number of great things about the journey, among them the fact that we had to walk less than 1/4 mile in total. One of the less great things is there can be, and was, some time between busses (about 30 minutes). The place that we transferred, Duncan Plaza, is a hub where many bus lines come together. What you get there is a peek into the bus riding community. Yes, it is low on the socio-economic ladder (read Rick Bragg for a wonderful southern author and his take on the connection between transportation. and socio-economic classes). After all, given choice, who would take 90 minutes to do what you could do in 15? Certainly not a sane person. With a little effort, people will connect. For ease of pain purposes, I seek out benches. I’m not the only one. Make a little eye contact. A self deprecating bit of humor. These are my tools I use to try to open a communication door. I do realize I am the fish out of water.

So, what is my point? What ever is my point? More than anything I want to say how full life can be when a bit of effort is made (more than anything this likely is a reminder and nudge to ME!). And that community can be found in the most unforeseen locations.

Patience is such a fascinating thing. We so desperately want it in this crazy world we live, yet we so strongly resist it in ourselves. At least I do!

I’ve posted of my desire to live a life built around adventure with evolution and learning as fundamental building blocks to achieve the height of adventure we seek. I’m now going to posit another – patience. Counter intuitive, yet so fundamental.

Those that know me well would hardly associate patience as one of my arrows in my quiver. Certainly not my best. JDT has written (she writes, I post) beautifully about our differences. In this, patience, evolution has brought us closer, yet continues to divide. Being the mother of our children, crafting a wonderful career . . well you get the point.

This past Saturday we went out for a mid morning coffee and snack. We went over to the heart of the Marigny and Peter & Paul Hotel. Interesting – this whole area feels incredibly similar to Williamsburg Brooklyn when we went there some 13-ish years ago. We are so attracted. This little outing, a bit over a mile round trip, was to be one of my first walks of over a mile. And well. it didn’t go great. Big neck and back pain that forced me to stop on a series of porches on the out and back. Plus, I made a couple of wrong turns and it turned out to be a bit less than 1.5 miles. I got back to 913 and applied heat to my back. Sunday I took it easy, mostly making sure all was well with the April 18th deadline approaching. On Monday we went to Antoine’s for lunch in the Quarter (St. Louis between Bourbon and Royal). AND my back felt really good going and coming. One mile down – PAIN FREE.

This morning is the 19th. The day after the 18th. Duh you say? Well this is essentially my 39th such 19th after 18th. They are to to celebrated!! So, we decided to go to breakfast at one of our favorite NOLA breakfast spots – Elizabeths. It is in the Bywater, two neighborhoods over. Feeling good I said to JDT, let’s walk. AND we walked, in our way (subject for another post). We had breakfast, and still feeling good, I suggested walking back. I’m now crafting this post while I’m applying heat to my neck and back.

The 9th day of our adventure in NOLA and a successful full 3 mile walk completed!!

So, I think this post is going to be about friends, or at least that is my intent.

JDT has posted over the course of the last 3 1/2 months some incredible posts. Some incredibly thoughtful posts. Some incredibly thought provoking posts. So, as always, she inspires me to my better self. I rarely, if ever, in my mind, do I achieve those lofty standards. Yet I try. AND as my beloved life coach Jim Kelley always said, there is no try, there is only do or do not. Yes, a quote from Yoda.

Here is my do.

I love each and every one of my friends. What I love most about them is each of their unique contributions to my perspective. I rarely, if ever, see it coming. But, come it does.

Aspects of this blog post began all the way back in June of 2007. JDT and I were in Albion staying in one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Dave and Deanna Bing’s home on the Navarro Ridge above the Albion River with a view to the last mile as it meandered its way toward the Pacific. Incredible. For some reason that weekend while we were there I read a book – Chasing Daylight. I only know this date because I wrote it on the inside cover. My memory has me reading this book as I was entering treatment for cancer. Wrong, but it is my memory. This book is the true story of one man’s final year in his journey with terminal cancer. I highly recommend it. It is his memoir told of his graceful way of dealing with death. It is wonderful.

I was having lunch a few months back with another friend, Larry. We have lunch and go to A’s games two or three times per year. There was a special occasion for this lunch, Larry’s 80th. I met Larry nearly 20 years ago, he actually was and is a client. Client first, friend first now! I helped Larry and Meryl, his wife, design and create a successful transition into retirement. Larry has been an incredibly important role model for me for living a full life in retirement. Our conversation over lunch was, as always, all over the place, in the best of ways. Larry is a voracious reader and has always referred me to books that “fill me up”. This day, he shared that he had just been turned on to Jane Didion. She had recently passed and certain of his friends were discussing her works. I asked him what I should read, and he suggested Slouching Toward Bethlehem. I went home and ordered on Amazon. So began my journey with Jane Didion.

I mentioned to JDT that I had just read Slouching Toward Bethlehem and that, while it took a bit, I was really enjoying Didion’s “voice”. JDT went in the other room and came back with The Year of Magical Thinking. So, I dove in. OMG! What a book. It is Didion’s story of her journey with grief. Her husband had died suddenly, yet not unexpectedly. She writes with such vulnerability.

Prior to leaving for NOLA I mentioned to JDT I was thinking of a post about my experiences with Year and Chasing Daylight. Both lovely books. JDT gave me a bit of a stink eye roll. I took that sign that not everyone appreciated my perspective on this topic.

We were surfing Netflix late one evening here in NOLA and bang, a show on Jane Didion appeared. It was filmed in 2015 or 2016. Jane was in her early 80s and clearly struggling with aging. A part of this documentary talks about another of Didion’s books, Blue Nights. You see, Year was released in 2010 or 2011, which happened to be a month or two after her adopted daughter, Quintana Roo passed. Quintana was actually in the ICU of a NYC hospital when Jane’s husband John passed. Year includes much about Quintana, but nothing on her death. Blue Nights discusses very deeply Quintana Roo’s death.

All three of these books, Chasing Daylight, Year and Blue Nights are fabulous. AND all different. Here is what they are about, TO ME. Chasing Daylight is about a graceful way to deal with your own death. Year is about grief. Blue Nights is about loss. And while Chasing Daylight is a wonderful tale, Year and Blue Nights are beautifully written.

As shared above, I’ve discussed all of this with JDT. She tells me my next book must be “lighter”. AND SHE IS PROBABLY RIGHT! AND why I am I drawn to these books? Why do they keep “showing up” for me? They are not just, or even primarily, about death for me. They are about being fully emotive. Being ALIVE! Real emotions when the world only wants us to either be “angry” or “happy”. The world rarely is accepting of being scared, only wants to scare us. Of feeling grief, only wants us to “sue for relief”. Of experiencing such deep loss that your body aches. It is my humblest of opinions that to live fully, one should embrace each and all emotions. Be fully emotive.

And my friends help me be fully emotive. For that I am eternally grateful!!

First, Happy Easter EVERYONE!!

We left CA on April 6. We took four days for our drive and I think we’re finding our best way. Stops in Blythe-CA, Las Cruces-NM, San Antonio-TX and finally into NOLA. We had a nice coffee/visit with JDT’s sister Chris in Phoenix and some serious BBQ and laughter with friends Joan and Brian in San Antonio (my absolute favorite BBQ, Rudy’s in Leon Springs).

Last week I focused a bit more on work (upcoming April 18th deadline) while JDT dove right in to her exploring. The drive is hard on my body, so easing into the heavy walking this past week has really worked for me. This next week will be more adventure based with one or two work (play for me) things mixed in each day. Two lunch reservations made (Monday and Thursday). I said to JDT yesterday we could eat at a different spot every time and not make a dent in quality dining spots (dives to white table cloth!!).

Friends David and Mary come for most of a week of visit beginning on April 24th (my 64th birthday). They drive down from their home in Birmingham. We treasure our time with them. We’ll talk, walk, laugh, eat and drink (way too much for me these days). David introduced me to “the Brown”. I love him for that!!

I don’t believe in the concept of the “Bucket List”. I’ve always believed if there is something we want to do we simply add to our priorities, make choices and do it. AND we are going to JazzFest on the 1st weekend 29th, 30th and 1st. Advice from a longtime client (and friend) told us the way. We purchased Big Chief tickets. Let’s just say it is the most $ I have ever spent for tickets to an event – EVER. AND . . . One last thing, I’ll get to see Red Hot Chili Peppers as headliners on the main stage on Sunday. Our paths have never crossed. I was able to check David Byrne off my list while in NYC. Now RHCPs!! I sure hope Anthony and Flea bring their LEGENDARY energy (Niels – Don’t forget Chad Dad!!). I sure hope they perform Under The Bridge – RHCP anthem to LA.

AND by this time we’ll be nearly 50% of our way through our stay here in NOLA. You know I struggle with this mindset. STAY IN THE MOMENT GLEN!!

We’ve been asked…are you getting in a rhythm? We’re trying, but it is Glen’s busiest week of the year (extended to April 18 this year) so we’ve been sticking pretty close to home.

Our abode is on the outer edge of the Quarter which is a good thing because the crowds get annoying pretty quickly. My morning routine doesn’t vary much. I tend to get up, make and enjoy my (first) coffee, read the news, and then either I head out in search of that croissant that will rival Saraghina in Brooklyn or we both go, depending on Glen”s work load. I love the early morning because there aren’t many people out. (NOLA is a late night drinking town.)

After enjoying whatever treat I’ve returned with, I take Dug out for a walk. Right now we just head out in some direction to explore and wander the neighborhood streets. The other day we went through the Bywater which is a really cool neighborhood with corner coffee spots, restaurants and an artist’s enclave. I think we’ll be returning there frequently. Yesterday I was heading to a cemetery, but I was “walking and talking” with a friend and I ended up with no bars (cell phone bars, there are plenty of the other kind of bars). Kinda spooky so had to turn around! I did walk through Louie Armstrong Park and will go back to explore more. Today we walked along the river to the far side of the Quarter and by the time we were heading back, the town was teeming with people so time to scadaddle home!

Usually post Dug walk, Glen and I head out for a late lunch/early dinner and then wander a bit and/or head home so he can check in on the day’s work. Today I couldn’t wait for my favorite…a shrimp po’boy at Johnny’s. It’s such a dive of questionable cleanliness, but it’s the best. Sadly, we got there at 3:15 and they close at 3:30 so they were out of shrimp?! We settled for a beef po’boy as suggested by the cashier. Just not the same. Gonna have to go back next week after the Easter crowds.

We do have a lovely front porch so we enjoy spending the late afternoon sitting outside to watch the world go by and get annoyed by Dug barking at all the dogs, horses, and delivery people. (Our building currently has 3 dogs between our 4 units so he’s not the only barker.)

This afternoon we wandered down to the neighborhood corner bar. Glen was reminded of the bars of his youth – kind of an experience. I learned that I shouldn’t order a “cocktail”. It needs to be a shot or maybe a gin and tonic if I’m stretching my luck. I chatted with a couple people who live in NOLA, but had lived or experienced California. They were very friendly and gave me great restaurant and walk ideas in the Bywater. I had a cocktail and because we are in NOLA, I put it in a to-go cup and brought it home! Turns out the bar is also dog-friendly so Dug can go next time. Tuesday is “boil” night so we’ll be back then for sure.

Speaking of Dug, he has become quite the urban dog. I was telling Glen that very little bothers him anymore. He used to balk at loud sounds, people petting him, animals, grates in the sidewalk, etc. Now he takes it all in stride and just struts his way down the street sniffing all the smells. I mean all the smells because after all, it is NOLA.

Do you ever use a word and wonder if you are using it correctly? I do and I did this morning. All I was doing was searching for coffee and croissants. Simple task. And then…

As I wandered the damp, quiet streets of the French Quarter in the early morning, I found myself feeling emotional. You know that feeling that starts brewing in your stomach (no, not that feeling), moves up through your heart, lodges in your throat, and then exits through your tears? That’s what I was feeling as I wandered the streets admiring the architecture and the sounds of the Quarter waking up. I walked with this feeling trying to identify what was causing it. My first answer was that it was a deep feeling of being so blessed.

Hmmm…blessed? Blessed. Was that the right word? Let’s see, according to the dictionary it means...consecrated, sacred, holy, sanctified. Definitely not the right word. Another definition is worthy of adoration, reverence, worship, divinely or supremely favored. That’s an hilarious thought. How about fortunate? Closer, but not quite right. Blissfully happy or contented? Closer yet. But I’m still not sure that any of those last three (fortunate, blissfully happy or contented) quite define my early morning emotion.

So what was it? I definitely felt a sense of conflict in my emotion as I thought about it which complicated the feeling. There was a sense of being fortunate. I mean, having the opportunity at this point of our life to live this life is definitely fortunate. But doesn’t fortunate intimate luck? Do I feel lucky? Yes and no. I know some of my luck comes from the privilege of my skin color. There are hurdles in life for people who don’t look like me that I didn’t even know existed, let alone experienced. There is definitely luck in life, but there’s also hard work and hard choices. We’ve done both. So yes, we’ve been fortunate and…I guess this is where my feeling of conflict comes up. I/we have worked hard and made hard choices. But we aren’t alone in that effort and others work even harder and make even harder choices with different results. Where’s their luck or fortune? Our luck or fortune has provided us opportunities for success. Sort of like being in the right place at the right time, but more like being the right person with the right tools. Skin color, zip codes, and other privileges can’t be the systematic deciding factors in determining one’s luck. That’s just not right and it’s not sustainable in our society.

So I’ve got to move on to…blissfully happy or contented? I guess maybe contented is closest? The dictionary says it means satisfied with what one has; not wanting more or anything else. Yes, if I’m just considering my own situation and not others. And so it’s still not quite right. I can’t be content when others don’t have the luck of experiencing the same feeling – of being the right person with the right tools.

Maybe the word I’m looking for is grateful: warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received. True. Not a complete explanation, but true both aspects are true. And back to blessed? Definitely not a word for me in its dictionary sense. My interpretation of it works better for me: born into luck, having good fortune and figuring out what to do with it. I think I’ll just live with those thoughts for now.

So back to my early morning wandering…I was beginning our search for the best croissant and coffee in the French Quarter. Still searching…

We started this blog SO long ago – back in July asking, “Can we? Will we?”. We wrote about our travels, our adventures in and around Brooklyn and NYC, and we mused on life’s big questions. After our 3 month journey, I think that Glen and I agreed that we could and we did! We both found that we enjoyed writing about our experiences and loved when we received feedback (hint hint). Then we got home and…meh…neither of us had the urge to write much. For me, don’t get me wrong. Life in Walnut Creek is grand. I love it there. And maybe I didn’t want to bore you with my daily drivel?

So here we are in April , nine months later and after much conversation, negotiation, and exploration…we are headed to New Orleans for our next grand adventure until the end of May!

We left WC today and are spending night one of our journey with Dug in beautiful Blythe, CA.Tomorrow we go straight through AZ (with a stop at a coffee shop to see my sister in Phoenix) and we will stay in Las Cruces, NM. Saturday night will find us visiting the Mikitens in San Antonio (at the Holiday Inn Express by the airport because we are fancy that way) and Sunday will find us at our apartment on Governor Nicholls Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans! Let the adventure begin!

So since I’m just sitting here in the hotel room, whiling away the evening in Blythe…here’s how our first day went.

After hugs to Blair at 5:45 and a stop at Peet’s, we hit the road in our rented Rav4. Everything was great…little traffic, beautiful sunrise and then…traffic came almost to a halt on I-5 on the Grapevine. We crawled along at less than 5 mph for at least 45 minutes until we got to the horrific accident where two trucks with cranes were pulling two semis up the hill where they had rolled. A bulldozer was cleaning the freeway of debris. A scene like that makes one take a breath and be grateful for one’s safety. I thanked my lucky stars, sent my good wishes to the drivers, and onward we went.

We pulled into beautiful Blythe at 3:45. Hotel is brand new! Woohoo! Except they had an accident and there’s no power till at least 9:00 and it’s 97 degrees. Okay. What else is in town? Brand new Hampton Inn and they just started taking pets! Woohoo. Except the pet fee is $75, but what are you going to do? We entered the room. It was new, very nice and rather large-plenty of room for Dug to roam. (What that really means is that there’s a couch for him to sleep on because after all…he’s only slept for 10 hours on the road today.) But what did Dug do upon entering? He immediately walked in the door, straight to the carpet (off of the tile entry) and threw up on the brand new carpet! Of course he did. 🤓🙃🤣🤓😵‍💫 Guess we’re getting our money’s worth with that $75 dog fee!

It has been said that opposites attract. And then there are those sayings… birds of a feather, two pigs in a poke…which indicate that like-minded/behaving creatures attract. Glen and I have been together for 37 years. We are definitely NOT cut from the same cloth. Our differences show up in SO many ways – and at the moment, planning our next big adventure demonstrates how differently we think! And yet, in the end, I think that it’s our differences that provide success. I’ll explain.

Glen has a great analogy for how we make decisions. I’ll let him tell you about it, but in a nutshell as he tells it – he dives into a decision and I take my time getting there. True, though I think that he ruminates in his head so I can’t actually see his thinking. AND I think out loud. So you can see where this is going. He gets to a decision and shares it with me and THEN I take that as my cue to START processing it, thinking about it, talking about it, researching it…and then MAYBE I’ll be ready to make a decision. You can imagine how my method drives him nuts.

So here we are NOT two peas in a pod…planning a four month trip with ALL kinds of considerations starting with…where the heck do we want to go? That first question itself is a doozy! And all I will say on that decision is…there is compromise on both sides. Yes, there is the location bucket list and then there are issues like…weather (Glen is eternally cold and I love heat which sounds like a match, but it’s not), he likes to stay in one place for awhile, I like to go, go, go, COVID, oh and the threat of WWIII, but other than that…easy AND peasy as my Afghan student, Arsh used to say.

So divide and conquer is sometimes our best method for decision-making. In this case, once we had decided on the “big rock” locations, we reverted to our usual roles; I began the search for housing and Glen started the travel logistics. This is where we sometimes hit a bump because he can’t really make those plans until I have confirmed lodging locations and as you might have guessed…sometimes on my part there is a lot of back and forth researching, thinking, processing, and talking about the planning! And there is also a lot of back and forth communicating with the various potential landlords (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.). So Glen has learned that it helps me speed up the process (have you seen how quickly the price of transportation is increasing?) by asking me to set a deadline for my lodging decisions which actually does get me moving! Urgency IS a motivator!

We have now finalized all lodging except the last destinations in Italy (Verona, Napoli and Rome) so while I get those firmed up (guess who is creating the current bump in planning?), Glen can work on getting us from London to the Isle of Arran, Scotland and from there to Canterbury, England. After a month in Canterbury, we need transportation to Paris and from there to Nice. Our last weeks in Europe will be spent in Italy and since that doesn’t happen till September…we have time…unless Glen needs to get us a Eurail pass, but that’s his department so…guess who needs a new deadline?!

So two peas in a pod? Nope. More like macaroni and cheese. They’re okay separately, but they are best together.

And I must close by recognizing that ours are not life or death decisions. Much of the world, especially Ukrainians are living through a real dilemma where their decisions might truly be the difference between life and death. They don’t have the luxury of time to ponder their choices. Or to write about them…

And finally (the REAL “finally”), as a teacher, I learned that leaving students with a question prompted more responses. So in the hopes of encouraging a few comments…tell us about your “peas in a pod” or “opposites attract” decision-making experiences. Or any other thoughts you might have…We’d love to hear from you!

It’s been months. One of my last posts questioned why I was inclined to write when traveling and not so much when home. Is it the increased level of adventure? More deep thinking when away from my nest? Is it the slipping back into old, comfortable routines?

Whatever it is…here’s my thought for today…two years ago WHO declared a pandemic. That day will go down in history like JFK’s assassination, Hiroshima, D-Day, December 7, 9/11, and other life altering events. It’s one of those days where you can picture yourself when you heard the news. Time stopped.

I think the difference this time was that we didn’t really know what a “pandemic” was going to mean for our lives. And we certainly didn’t see the “moment” in history lasting two plus years. In the USA, only our grandparents had any personal experience with a pandemic. Vaccines had erased earlier pandemic scares from our world. This “pandemic” news created a sense of uncertainty and with access to all the news sources, there was a lot of conflicting mis/dis information, much of which was not useful. It felt like we were immediately thrown into hyper info-processing mode on a rapidly changing topic of which we had no experience.

On March 11, 2020, I was home planning our annual St. Patrick’s Day party when all of a sudden Glen, Blair, and Niels came through the front door bearing their computers, monitors, and sundry other equipment announcing they were going to have to work from home “for awhile”. Awhile?

I immediately went from planning a party to figuring out how to serve three squares a day to four adults. All this as I navigated the new grocery shopping experience. (Remember wiping down each product before setting it on the counter?) AND we “postponed” our St. Paddy’s party – as we told our guests – for a week or two. A bright side? The party postponement did leave us with 15 pounds of corned beef to consume as I had already purchased it!

We all have memories of those first days – all the same and yet individualized by our circumstances. And here we are two years later, just beginning to open up our lives, our world when BOOM – literal “incoming” occurs in Ukraine. No words.

So at this new, strange time of uncertainty, I’ve been thinking…

Glen and I are finalizing our upcoming two month stay in New Orleans …

AND we are in the throes of planning a three month adventure in Europe with a fourth month back in New York. The strangest thing about this planning process is that so many of my research sources – blogs, websites, travel magazines, etc. are so outdated – back to 2019-20 because that is when our world as we knew it, stopped. It feels like a sci-fi movie scene as I turn from blog to vlog to magazine article to travel website – Literally, there are two missing years from our history, from our lives, from our world.

Do-do-do-do (Sing the Twilight Zone music and you’ll get it.)

I’ll close with this – Is it time to create our new (his/her) story? Are we crazy? Maybe.

Time will tell.

And just a tease…here are a few photos of the places we will be staying in Europe…There are a few more weeks at the beginning and towards the end that we are still filling in. Let the blog restart begin!