Saying; Good Bye

This weekend we will be leaving Santa Monica for life on the beach a little further north, and I must say that just as difficult actually leaving Springfield was, leaving Santa Monica feels similar.

Granted, I have family and long time friends in Springfield that can never be replaced. Yet, life in Santa Monica has been wonderful, and friends have been made as well.

I suppose the one thing I am getting at, is that I have been learning how to prepare for the next assignment and the next adventure, but wasn't really prepared for the departures and the farewells.

When we left Springfield after living there for over twenty years I was overwhelmed in the grandness and enormity of downsizing, leaving my grown children, and preparing for a radical change in life. I remember in the final days before our departure I would drive about the town and feel as though I already didn't belong, as if I were a visitor.

This time in leaving Santa Monica; it's the subtleties that overwhelm me. The idea that we are saying goodbye so soon, and lack time to truly gain an appreciation for how beautiful it is here.

This temporary moment of bittersweet doesn't deter me from our dream of visiting other locations, yet I have come to realize; in my planning of new destinations and distant arrivals; to savor the farewells, and goodbyes.

That is the purpose of this blog; to go beyond sharing practical tools of travel, but also reveal experiences Mary and I have along the way in order to help you expect what lies ahead for your future travels as well.

"How will it feel", I ask Mary, "if we end up leaving pieces of us with every place we visit?" "How long before we feel that there is not enough of us left?"

"I suppose", answers Mary, " instead of just leaving peaces behind; we can take pieces with us".