This morning I awoke to synthetic harp sounds from my iPhone alarm clock. 2:20 a.m.? How could it already be time to wake up? The adventure is finally beginning, I thought to myself. I gave my Golden Retriever, Sugar, one last belly rub before heading to the shower.
Today I am traveling to Ecuador. It’s the first leg on a 4 week around the world trip with World Vision. I will be shooting and producing videos, taking still pictures, and blogging about how World Vision’s Gift Catalog is helping children and families around the world. And this time, I have decided to write a blog.
To be honest, I’m writing this blog for my family. For all the years I’ve been traveling internationally, it’s amazing how terrible I’ve been at communicating my experiences.
Usually when I come home from a trip, they ask me, “How was your trip?”
I answer, “It was really great.”
They say, “Wonderful, we’re glad you had a good time.”
I reply, “Yes, it was difficult, but very rewarding.”
They add, “Well, it’s nice to have you home.”
I conclude, “I’m really glad to be home too.”
And then we continue to drive down the gray pavement of my re-entry. I’m sure my silence stems from childhood experiences of sitting through three-hour slideshow presentations given by my great Aunt Francis. We would gather in her living room, lime punch and Swedish Krumkake cookies in hand, and listen to a live narrated slideshow of her latest greatest adventures. Although these events created some wonderful childhood memories for me, I realize now that I never cared as much about her trips as she did. And I fear my family will feel the same if I start soliloquizing about long plane flights, dusty jeep rides, and children’s stories of survival and loss.
If you’ve traveled for any length of time, I’m sure you understand what I’m talking about. No matter how well you tell the story, or explain where you were when you took the picture, your explanation will never be as powerful as the moment of experience.
I am constantly amazed that the World Wide Web hosts millions of blogs from people all over the world - millions of people who have something meaningful to say - every single day. I’m not a great writer, and I’m not sure I have anything intelligent to say, but if you’re having trouble sleeping over the next month, keep this blog in your bookmarks. I’ll do my best to entertain you with my world pieces.
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