Talk About Changing Scenery!

January 28, 2011 by Ruth 6 Comments

Here I am 38 years old and I’d never been any farther east than St. Simons Island, Georgia, no farther west than Alexandria, Louisiana, no farther north than Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and no farther south than than the Bahamas.  Though I love to travel and see new sights I really hadn’t done much of it.  The hubs and I might travel a few hours north to the North Georgia Mountains (foothills really) in the fall, but that was pretty much the extent of it.  He didn’t share my enthusiasm for travel.  So when we parted ways early last year I let myself do something I would have never dreamt I’d do.  Most of my friends would’ve never thought so either.  I’m so conservative and sensible and introverted some of them thought I’d gone off the deep end.  I think some of them were having secret meetings behind my back to discuss plans for a straight jacket and a padded room.  That was the farthest thing from the truth though.  It was more like freeing a caged bird! 


You see they thought I was nutters because I was traveling outside their comfort zone and mine as well.  In July of 2010 I booked a  flight to England in September all on my own. It was a 14 hour flight and I’d never even been on an airplane.  I didn’t ask anybody’s permission, didn’t consult anyone as to whether it was a good idea, didn’t really care what they thought.  Only after I’d booked the nonrefundable flight did I tell anyone.  My very dearest friend was encouraging.  My sister thought it was fantastic and she drove me to the airport.  Other people….not so much.  True to my newfound personality, though, my attitude was “they ain’t paying for the ticket and not a one of them have paid a house payment so it really doesn’t matter what they think”. :~)  I’d grown weary of being a Stepford Wife and dadgummit(sp?) I was going on the adventure of my life!

And guess what?  Nothing terrible happened.  The sky didn’t fall.  I went to England and had the time of my life.  In fact I had so much fun I’m going back again in September of 2011, that is if the Lord doesn’t come on May 21.  Doh!    


Think I’ll share some more about my trip in future posts.  It’s the most liberating thing I’ve done to date and I’m just getting started.