Dear ECS,
Well honey, it is so good to be home. It is so good to be traveling too, and this
was a solo trip so that is a whole different animal. When I got home yesterday and you and your
mom opened up our gate and you said so happily (but sleepily, since I just took
a redeye) – “Daddy!” my heart melted.
Where did I get to gallivant off to this time? A place I had wanted to visit since I was in
middle school in Maine and teams of hockey players better than me went over to Sweden
to have a great time and get their butts kicked.
Muriel had been gone the last couple of weeks to the Sudans,
so I thought I would keep the S theme going and head to Stockholm.
You would fit right in Sweden, there were a ton of blond babies
and kids all over the place and the parents take very, very good care of their
kids. I saw so many $500 dollar plus
baby strollers (safety is very important in Sweden) and parents seemed to
follow your parents' philosophy of taking kids pretty much
everywhere. I also enjoyed fitting in,
being anonymous. Here in Addis, I stand
out. We stand out. Which is wonderful for the attention, but in
Stockholm I revelled in getting to go on a run and not get shouted at on a minute-by-minute
basis.
There were also some nice benefits of traveling solo; I think
my favorite is being hypermobile. I
like to be on the move--walking, running, buses, boats, bikes,
whatever. I don’t go for the smartwatch
like your mom to track my steps, but if I did I am sure these days would have
been record setters. Being on the move
is what makes me feel like I am exploring. Exploring -- stumbling into new, cool things.
Don’t get me wrong sweetie, I had my fair share of coffees and beers and fall apples that made me recall Maine so fondly, but my
mind always wants to be moving.
Because solo traveling is great for reflection, one thing I
was thinking about a lot over the days was about travel generally. Your mom and I do, and did, a lot of it; we
have directed a small fortune and a large portion of our limited and ever
diminishing time on earth on travel – money and time I would spend again on
that pursuit again joyfully. And
more. I hope against hope that you will
have the same preferences, and know that you will have seen more of this world
at a tender age than I could have conceived of when I was in my early
20’s.
I have always thought to myself that I travel to see new
things. But I want to revise that. I think I travel to feel – this trip I ended
up traveling to mourn (Dave, my friend that died earlier this year), to
celebrate (I got selected for promotion last week), to appreciate (how damn
lucky I am), to be anonymous, and to remember.
Travel is also great for memories (I wrote about my memory index here: http://livingthekoroldream.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-memory-index.html). An example of remembering from my Stockholm
trip was a great day I had years ago, I guess in 2004, and one that I had not
thought about for at least a decade.
Since I got out on the water on ferries in Stockholm to see more than
the city in the massive archipelago, I ended up recalling strongly a solo
travel day I had in central/southern Chile, heading out from a city called Valdivia. That day I ended up exploring ancient forts
all to myself, just I did a few days ago in Vaxholm. Both days were overcast, on the shoulder
seasons in places that get a lot more visitors during their summer high
season. These places are thousands and
thousands of miles apart, but in my mind that distance, and the 13 years,
melted to nothing.
Traveling was great and it was made better knowing you were
having such a great time back home. Here
is a transcript of a video I watched many more times than I would have
anticipated 3 years ago was possible.
Elle: “hi, bye, I’ll see you later. Bye.”
Mu: “say hi daddy.”
Elle: “hi daddy, I miss you so much. Bye.!”
Mu: “do you love him so much?”
Elle: “i love you so
much!”
- said with a huge grin
I love you so much!
Love,
dad
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