Travel With Peggy: I'm No Longer What I Was!

A lot as happened in our lives in a very short amount of time. It was only in April that Ed & I decided that we would really take this leap of faith and make a drastic change in our lives. Our dream for years was to travel and stay long term (1 to 3 months) in places that intrigued us. We really wanted to get to know the local people, food and customs in the different places. Then, the dream/plan seemed to take a life of its own and changed to us living in Cuenca, Ecuador. We still have plans to travel from there to the places we want to visit.

Now, we are really making this dream happen.  I've had many different opportunities to grasp, understand and "get it" that we really are taking a new journey. A few of these opportunities to grasp MY new path was during the following times. The hardest time was while we were driving our two six year old beautiful mini-schnauzers to their new home 9 hours way. But, I was just very sad to give up our girls to a new home and worried about their adjustment to their new home.

Next, we held our large Estate Sale and my "treasures" from 44 years were walking out the door to their new home. Again, it seemed more about memories and all the wonderful places we have visited. It had taken me a lifetime to collect all these things. I was sad that the items that had meant so much to me really were not wanted by either of my children. These things weren't their taste or memories! But, as I was parting with my "prizes" it always was more about the past and not the future that I was heading into.

I should have understood "it" during the signing of the Closing Papers (which we had to do twice) of selling of our home. I did love this house and our neighborhood. But, we have bought and sold more houses in our married life than I care to count. So, again it just seemed to be about the past and doing something we have done many times before.

I have had more occasions to digest this new path that I'm on, including driving a 27 foot U-Haul truck myself from Tampa to northern Ohio. Driving that large truck across country gave me plenty of time to think. The two thoughts that came most to mind was "Can I really do drive this truck all 1,200 miles?" and "Why did I tackle this trip by myself?".

But, for some reason it really hit about the changes happening to me on Saturday at a business luncheon. I belong to the National Association of Career Travel Agents (NACTA) and this past Saturday I was attending our bi-monthly luncheon & business meeting. I had brought a few items that I had saved from my business library to donate to our local chapter of NACTA for their lending library. I had shared with my associates at the luncheon about Ed's and my new journey to live in Cuenca, Ecuador.  It was then that I first realized that I would not be attending their next luncheon in September. I was closing this chapter of my life of running a travel agency and being a travel consultant. I have to keep my agency opened and licensed through the end of the year because I have clients booked. But, then it will quietly fade away. I guess I had not really thought about this part of my life.

So, this new journey has changed me ..... what am I now? I'm no longer the owner of a travel agency and travel consultant. I will no longer get the joy of helping clients turn their travel destinations into dreams. I now feel unsettled about all this. A saying comes to mind, "Old soldiers don't die, they just fade away". I feel like I'm just fading away and this bothers me a lot, because it is the first time I really addressed the changes to this part of my life. I just never thought about not being a travel agent while we were making all these plans.

I'm very use to adjusting to changes in my life. I was an Army Brat and grew up moving around the world and adjusting to new schools all my youth. I married an Army officer and we raised our two children in the military life.  Our family has lived in Germany, Korea, and Saudi Arabia. In our 44 years of marriage, I think we have moved some 32 times. That's a lot of adjusting for any one person. I have had many careers because of moving and that was always OK with me.

So, why does the thought about not having my agency and not being a travel consultant bother me so much? I'll have to think about this for a while to try to make sense of my feelings ......

Below are some of the pictures I have taken during my travels. These opportunities have come about because of my travel agency. I have been very blessed and I am very thankful for all these occasions and experiences....