Why I Chose to Not Wait to Travel
Travel has always been a love of mine as far back as I can remember. I’ve always needed a change of environment every so many months to break away from the mundane of life. My late husband and I had made a decision, after our first cruise for our 10th wedding anniversary in May 2019, we wanted to start traveling more together with our two boys. What was not expected was his sudden death in September 2019, at the age of 35. Grief has a way of putting everything – including dreams you once shared – in a box you are not sure you will ever open again. After his passing, I put the thought of traveling on the back burner thinking if I ever remarried, I could pick this idea up again. However, I felt God was saying to me, “Your life didn’t end, it’s just transforming; so, don’t place desires and dreams on the back burner waiting for the next partner. I want you to live now! and discover this new person I’m shaping you to become.” So, in 2021, I decided I was going to travel and with my youngest son because my oldest son had gone off to the military.
My youngest son has been on the move with us since he was 6 weeks old. He took his first plane ride at 13 months when we made a spontaneous decision to take a family trip to the Tampa/Clearwater, FL area Summer 2016. Those were the days when travel was a family affair – all four of us discovering the world together. I’ve never been afraid to take my boys along for the new experiences of seeing a world beyond what we knew in our southern community. By 2024, I booked my second cruise with my youngest son, and we did a Thanksgiving cruise out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He loved it so much and as of June 2026, he’ll be taking his 4th cruise on his 3rd cruise line. He loves cruising and I do too. He’s seen so much of the Caribbean islands in such a short time span. Plus, we’ve met some really nice families and couples on our cruises. We even keep in touch with a couple we met on our Thanksgiving 2024 cruise. They have become like family to us. But perhaps the most unexpected gift of all came through a single conversation that reminded me I was not alone in this journey. I even feel God orchestrated our meeting because the husband had shared with me how he’d once been a widower himself and his wife was God’s restoration of love to him. We love them so much. Travel has a way of doing that – connecting you to people and moments that remind you why you chose to show up in the first place.
Most of us have plans and dreams that somehow life has deterred. I want to encourage you to revisit those plans and dreams and decide today will be the day you pick it back up again when it comes to making the intentional time to travel. As long as I receive a new day of life, I want to spend more of it seeing this world and meeting the wonderful people who live in it.
