Dear 40 year-old Claire,
You have been a lot of places. You have seen a lot of beautiful sights. You have met a lot of great people and you
have learned a lot of things about yourself.
Remember when you were a child how you thought you
would lead a typical life? You planned
on being married at 27 and to have your first child at 30. As you grew a bit older, you realized that
life does not always work out as planned.
You veered off course, but had some great experiences you wouldn’t
otherwise have had.
You got to see the most beautiful sights
you’ve ever seen while traveling in Australia.
Your solo road trip from Sydney to Melbourne, then via the Great Ocean Road back to Sydney was unbelievably gorgeous and your trip to see Uluru
in the Australian outback left you with beautiful images that will never be
erased from your mind.
The Twelve Apostles - along the Great Ocean Road
You got to push yourself physically while
climbing Franz Joseph Glacier in New Zealand.
That climb left you breathless, and not in a good way ;) After gaining 20 pounds from drinking cheap
wine and eating curry, your body almost gave out on you like the old Ford Pinto
your parents left sitting in the garage during your childhood. The over night cruise in Milford Sound wasn't bad either!
Beautiful Milford Sound, New Zealand - South Island
You got to see what I’m sure is the
strangest place in the world, while in Cambodia.
A floating village and a crocodile farm in the middle of the Mekong
River has to top the list of “what am I doing here?” experiences. Having little children in metal tubs with
snakes around their necks offering a photo opportunity for a dollar was unreal.
"One dollar, one dollar!"
You got to eat delicious food and see
cultural shows in Thailand. The best
pad thai you ever ate was in Bangkok. This was also the scene of one the most authentic
cultural song and dance shows you ever got to witness. The choice between this experience and watching the native Maori in New Zealand perform the Haka, a traditional native war dance, is a difficult one.
The night markets in Bangkok - you can watch cultural shows and eat insects for dinner...
You got stung by a jellyfish in the
face in Sydney, had a fish pedicure in Chiang Mai, Thailand and visited beautiful museums in Paris. The list goes on…
Me - hating every second of the fish pedicure....
How lucky were you? Very lucky. I don’t think traveling the world is
something that every person gets to experience.
Yes, it left you broke but you always knew you would never have traded
these experiences for the world.
As a 40 year old, my hopes for you are that
you never lose your sense of wonder, yes just like Lea Ann Womack sang, “when
you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.” I
hope that as a professional public relations specialist, you are able to
continue your life-long passion for travel and new experiences. I hope that even as a wife and mother, you
are able to experience with your family what you got to experience individually
as a young, eager 20-something. I hope that you have
continued to learn, take the photography course you always meant to take,
that you finally got around to learning to play the guitar, and got back into ballet,
your childhood “dream career.” Hopefully now,
these things are your hobbies and these along with your career and family will leave you just as fulfilled as your days spent exploring. Hopefully, you have found many more places to visit and check off your list. Hopefully you have many more places about which you can say -
…Claire was here
