Recently I was fortunate enough to reconnect with someone I went to school with from kindergarten through high school. I have not seen her since we walked across the stage and out into life, as it would unfold for each of us. Facebook brought us together, and I have so enjoyed her posts about the places she has traveled, and the things she has seen and done. She has indeed led a fascinating life, and when we met several weeks ago, one of her questions to me was “Tell me, where have you been?”  I doubt that details of our trip to Disneyworld in 1985 when my boys were all under 10 could compare to her pictures of Paris, and the few times we were able to save our pennies and make trips to Daytona to enjoy the beach and the racing seemed kind of lackluster against her tales of world travel. Perhaps I indulged myself in a few fantasies of travel and adventure, enjoying the idea of it, and absolutely admiring her joie de vivre and her enthusiasm for her travels.

I thought about my rather (okay, okay very) mundane life and the trips and adventures I have had. On this Mother’s Day I wonder if any of you have had similar trips as well.

Lets go back in time, back far into the past. My first big trip was the trip down the aisle. As a very young, naive woman, I walked toward a handsome, and perhaps equally naive, young man and we started a journey together that we haven’t finished yet. It has taken us to the Heights of Joy and The Valley Of Despair. From Better to Worse, we have traveled in sickness and health. Our next stop was Parenthood, and a very tough ‘hood it has been. We took that trip three times, and I can tell you, it has been a long, never ending journey with lots of ups and downs and side roads to explore and figure out. Seems like we almost got lost a time or two on that trip, but we held hands and pulled ourselves out of the ditch to continue on down the road. That road featured stops at the Awake All Night Inn (we couldn’t get out of there fast enough) and Does Little League Season Ever End, The Guided Tour. There was the dreaded stop at The Principal’s Office and the very unexpected (and unwelcome) stop at Your Son Broke My Son’s Glasses.

Have you ever ventured through I Need Three Hundred Dollars For Band Camp? How about I Got Suspended or I Might Get An F In Math? This last stop is very close to Your Son Talks Too Much In Class And He Has An ATTITUDE. Almost every winter we made an unscheduled trip to Mom! I Lost My Coat. If you didn’t get there, don’t worry, it wasn’t worth the money. About the time we stopped going to M!ILMC we made pretty frequent trips to it’s sister city Mom! I Can’t Get My Feet In These Shoes Anymore. We made those trips every few months when the boys were teenagers.

We have taken lots of trips together, our family, covered a lot of ground. We still travel together, and the trips are getting better than ever. Why, just this week we made our second visit to I’m A Grandparent! We had to wait a long time to get to make the trip, but it was worth every minute.

Life takes us in different directions than we thought we would go. Sometimes in the everyday grind, we forget just how wonderful it is, standing right where we are. May your travels be wonderful journeys, filled with adventure and excitement, whether they be to an exotic destination, or to the grocery store for baby formula. And a very special wish for a wonderful day to all our mothers.