Centered Question #3

There is a place for most everyone, that brings peace, calm and inspiration beyond reason.  Where do you find yourself most centered, most connected to life and your most true self?  It doesn't have to be a place you travel far to get to ~ it can be your own back porch. It can be a specific place, a broad scope of place, or a sense of place. The most important thing is that you find what centers you there.

This isn't breaking news:  for me, it is the ocean.  I believe that I have always had an intense interdependence on the sea, from the time I was two, and the strong grasp of an undertow ripped me from my parents' hands, drawing me deeper out into the water.  We all have those sharp memories from the earliest of our days, and to this day, I can still see and feel that experience - the sensation of being cradled and culled by powerful force like a shell being plucked from the shore.  I remember looking up, eyes open just below the surface to see the green blue watery sun glinting through the shallow waves above me, and I remember a strange sense of calm.  I didn't choose the sea, it chose me, collected like one finding the most cherished seashell on the sand.

Being here again, I am reminded of all that it means to me, both spoken and unspoken.  I remember all the reasons I have to make my pilgrimage to its powerful shores.  Being here, I am challenged to live my life the way I know it is best lived, and not the way this world's intents are being imposed upon me.

• I am reminded of the greatness of God beside the ocean.  My finite rests trusting in His infinity.
• It is always by the sea that I am reminded of my love affair with words.
• My fierce ardor and heartbreak for all humanity is never clearer than when I am at ocean's shore.
• Clarity resonates brightest.  Passion rises to a fevered pitch.  Inspiration comes in like high tide.
• I am most at home - finding my Center and my deepest longings where deep always calls.

Describe that place for you.

If you are just joining in, we are in the midst of a GET-AWAY GIVE-AWAY and you are welcome, no, ENCOURAGED to join in!  Come along!  Some of you are remembering to ask me questions for extra entries so BONUS!  Here are a few from last week that all have a similar theme:

Tortuga Rachel,  McGuffy Ann, and Vapid Vixen asked me similar questions this past week so I thought I would compile them and 'feature' them here this week.  They all had a similar 'theme' of most miserable/worst/oddest travel memory, and then Rachel went over and above and asked two more - here is her list:
1. What is your WORST travel memory?
2. When your kiddos are all growed up, do you plan to travel more? Where would you go?
3. What do you hope your kiddos get/learn from traveling?

1. Worst/Most Miserable/Oddest Travel Memory - 

This face says it all.  I call this photo 'Grump-butt'.  In 2008, we traveled to Oranjestad, Aruba.  It was our first time out of the country and our arrival was a bit of a nightmare.  Once we got there from the airport, we had no idea what to do for food.  We had no means of transportation.  We were staying in a one-room studio with one of those beds that drop down from the wall and a fold-out couch.  We did not speak the language, although many folks did speak a beautifully accented English.  We always travel on a budget, avoiding debt, and our first night there, we ended up at a very touristy restaurant because we didn't know what else to do.  I am not kidding, we spent nearly $100 for a family of four...and I ordered a diet coke in a glass the size of a small can of tomato paste (no refills) and a lukewarm bowl of soup.  We all tried to be conservative - and the bill was nearly $100.  I immediately went into 'panic - the worst of all worst is happening' and figured we'd be broke in two days, and having to bum morsels from the vending machines, but then we couldn't afford those either.  After that experience, we left the overpriced disappointment and got on a bus (this is where I am in the picture - the bus stop) to go to a grocery store and load up - surely we could eat more economically that way.  It only got worse - here we were - all four of us, bumbling around a strange grocery store where none of the signs were readable to us, the currency was baffling, and it was growing dark outside.  Then we realized - are we going to haul all of this on the bus back???  What now?  It was awful.  Finally Hubs decided to make an executive decision to go back to the condo and sleep on it.  It had been a long day of travel and we were all tired.  Solutions would be clearer in the morning.  They were.

In the morning, we got up and told the kids they had to stay in the room while we took a taxi back to the store.  Hubs and I were able to navigate the store easier without the kids making requests.  He figured out the rate of exchange and we did manage to come out better by shopping for our meals there.  Bonus:  there is no open container law, so to celebrate a problem solved successfully, we cracked open a couple of ice cold bottles of Balashi in the back seat of the taxi as he took us and our bounty back to the resort.  We also decided to rent a car, and it made a world of difference to get to venture the beautiful island.  I learned a lot from my first out-of-country experience.  It turned out to be another one of our 'best' family vacation memories.  And that dual bed situation together out in the living room?  We had more laughs when the lights were out - singing the name game and telling corny jokes until we all drifted off to sleep.

Day at Baby Beach

View from our balcony

2.  Kiddos all 'growed' plans to travel - 

   I can hardly believe it but I am pretty much there - my two kids ARE nearly grown, graduating my 'baby' in a few short months.  Yes, travel is forefront in future plans, as time and schedules and finances permit.  As far as where would I go?  Where WOULDN'T I go!?  Just about anywhere - but I know that there will be more return trips to Nicaragua as building has begun (post on that forthcoming).

3.  What I hope my kids get/got from traveling:

  I have thought very intentionally about this very question.  First of all, I hope that they have gleaned from the experiences that travel is priceless - better than any material object they could possess.  I hope that as they embark out in life and possibly start families one day, that they will also weigh the benefits of a shared travel experience against giving their children the latest of something and opt for the trip every time.  Second, I hope that they have been instilled with a wonder and curiosity at the world and a thirst for learning more, but not just in books but in actually experiencing things - tasting, touching, seeing, hearing new things.  Third, especially in their international travels, both with us, and on their various mission trips, I hope that they see the beauty and value in ALL cultures. That they would realize that we humans are all essentially the same, want the same things, and are good.  I hope it has given them that crazy love for people that I have to want to embrace the whole world.

(blushing...)  In my haste to hit the sand, I forgot the linky thingy....here go...