Grateful

As I sit on our deck back home and think about our trip, I am full to overflowing with gratitude.

I am grateful for the weeks and months of researching. For Jarett and I, half the fun of these trips is in the planning.

I am grateful for the adventurous spirits of Lleyton and Adalynn. I love that they helped research some things, that they are willing to try new tastes and sights and experiences. I love that they tested out some French and lots of smiles and laughs. We are a pretty great team of four.

I am grateful for Jarett. Wow, this guy. He was our translator, our driver, our navigator, and just so fun. It was so awesome to get to see him use his French again and so well!!! Seriously, we are the luckiest that he is ours.

I am grateful for best laid plans that went off without a hitch.

I am grateful for wrong turns that showed us new streets or towns we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

I am grateful for the sounds of laughter that come from stories of our adventures that will be told over and over again. I am grateful for the sounds of waves and wind and cheering down the streets from our open windows. I am grateful for the small gasp I heard from Lleyton at the Louvre and the “yes” from Adalynn when she stood up surfing.

I am grateful for tastes of Pinxtos and cheeses and wines and meals that I will be able to find in my mind a thousand times over.

I am grateful for the smell of the saltwater air on the coast, the heat glazed city smell of bigger centres, smells of bakeries, and caves and of town squares packed to the brim.

I am grateful for the feeling of my feet on cobblestone walking down winding streets. The feel of the wind on my face from an unexpected break in the buildings. The cool water as I dive in from the beach. The hot nights, and the ones filled with ocean breeze.

I am grateful that travel is so many things. An adventure, a chance to grow, learn and explore, sometimes a break. Everyone says that it creates memories and that is true and I cherish them deeply. Travel is more than the memories though. It also changes you and becomes a part of you. Because of being in the places we were, we will have different touchstones and markers and experiences to draw from moving forward. As always, this is true of every day and all of our experiences, but sometimes travel helps you to go further out of your comfort zone and to pay more attention.

I am so very grateful that the four of us got to travel again.