Taking to the Skies Again (and again)

 Kew Gardens,  London,  2008

Since 2006, when I overcame a post-9/11 aversion to flying,  we've been to Washington, D.C.,  New York City, Texas, Boston,  Arkansas,  London, Paris, Rome, Venice, the Cinque Terre (Italy), Monaco, Mississippi, Seattle, Quebec, the Hudson River Valley, Montreal, and Corfu. Oh, and Memphis, which has the National Civil Rights Museum, a must-see that should be on that list  floating around on the internet of "100 Things to See Before You Die."


It's all been memorable, and to  my mind, a firm slap on the face of mortality.  As in,  "Ha , ha, I managed to do that before the Big Eraser came down."

Travel takes money and, for us, a re-ordering of priorities. We have two bathrooms that need remodeling, a dated kitchen, and I drive a 16-year old car. Don't care.    By the time I was in my late fifties and Jerry was in his seventies, I thought, it's now or never.  I worry about every flight, but I go. 

What's next?  Chicago in May and Glacier National Park in August.  And May 2013 is shaping up to be a mega-trip: Boston, Switzerland (Alps), and England, including London, Oxford, and the moors of the West Country.

I made it to Paris by sheer luck when I was 9 (my parents won a Cadillac  they sold to finance the trip).  When I was 59, I made it back to Paris, a sentimental journey.  See photos below.  This was better than a Prius and granite countertops.

My sister and me in the Tuileries garden in Paris, overlooking the Place de la Concorde, 1959

Fifty years later in  approximately the same spot