Of course, I am asking myself what has changed and why? Friends and family have always regarded me as "unsettled". At a young age I moved from Germany to Norway. I moved within Norway, and finally the biggest dream of my life became reality when moving to Canada. Then we moved a couple of times within Canada.
So why did I start to truly enjoy being home and hesitate to go on a long trip?
The answer may be in layers. First of all, we have found a place to live in, I truly enjoy.
This small community with its island life seems to be what has filled me with great satisfaction. We are running a little business here, and where ever we pull up either here on the island, or across the border, people know who we are and what we are doing. We have grown an identity, we are part of a local society. We have come to stay. But I have also grown older and maybe even a bit wiser. I have come to appreciate these previously unknown to me values.
Our previous travels through the U.S. have shown us great landscapes, and we have met many nice people, some becoming friends for life. The value of these experiences remains undiminished, at the same time it seems like the glass of my curiosity has been filled. Yet, I will not exclude the thought of never returning to winter travels, but that might still be in the future.
I guess I have not reached that point in my life yet, we still love to travel end enjoy our winters down south in warmer weather. Someday we will have to hang up the keys, just not ready yet. I have always been a wanderer.
ReplyDeleteUnderstandable after your most recent grueling trip. I'm sure in time you'll be wandering again.
ReplyDeleteI really can relate to your post. We have really slowed down in our travels and I am really happy to be at home here in AZ. However, I still get some hitch itch by the time summer comes along. I think a lot of that has to do with the 120 degree weather. So we still have plans to travel for the summers for a few more years yet. But being at home is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou and I are very much alike in our traveling habits and thoughts. I too have noticed a big change in the last few years. Once always an urge to go somewhere else and now an urge once I get there to go home again. No doubt further travel days in the future for us but I realistically know the best traveling days are probably now behind us. Long driving distances and ever increasing volumes of maddening traffic have taken their toll and we've lost that Newbie excitement as looming health issues continue to crowd our once youthful physical exuberance. There's still a big world out there to be discovered but there's still lots of things to be discovered here right close to home as well.......
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