Do Your Kids Want To Travel – part 1

Wouldn’t you love it if your parents told you that you could go to Tibet, China, Hong Kong and India in two years as long as you met a few requirements?

What would you say?

For my twelve year old who received exactly that opportunity this past weekend, it was a mixture of tears (happy ones) and hugs. Unbeknownst to her, my husband was looking at me like I was half out of my mind and I was secretly praying that everything would work out.

It started with a simple trip to the bookstore, me looking for books on how to get the most out of my life and her in the travel section picking up and looking through with such intentness at books that had to do with India, Tibet and China. I came over after I realized that there really wasn’t a book to help me and asked her “Whatcha doin?”She looked up and said “I’m looking at books on Tibet and India” and proceeded to tell me how she created a list of places she wants to travel when she “grows” up. I looked at her face and could see the seriousness she had about this future endeavor and had to smile at youth and their dreams. She put her book back and we both wandered into the eastern philosphy section and continued looking at various books until my husband and son came to get us after their stint to the local hardware store.

I didn’t think much about any of it until I woke up in the middle of the night and the first thought that came to my mind was why does she have to wait? Apparently, my brain didn’t get the message that it was 3:00 am and that it really needed to let my tired body go back to bed. As I laid there I mulled the question. Then my logical side woke up and provided why she couldn’t:

• We had absolutley no spare money
• In a year my husband’s plant would be closing which meant search for a new job, relocation and everything inbetween.
• Oh yes, did I mention no money?

As I pondered the possibility I began to think of all the times I thought we didn’t have enough money to do something like when we got married, bought a house and everytime I gave birth to my kids.