Growing up, I never wanted a cookie cutter life. The thought of being settled down in a subdivision with a family did not seem like a life I would ever have. Whether I actually didn’t want that, or life experiences had caused me to have negative feelings about that lifestyle, I don’t know, but regardless, here I am living in a subdivision with the most beautiful family: incredible husband, beautiful son, wild dog, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 cars, a mortgage, student loan debt…the American Dream! Okay minus the student loan debt and it would be the American Dream!
You may know by now that I love my family more than anything and I love traveling almost as much. When you have wanderlust in you, no matter how perfect your home life is, you are always craving the next adventure. You never feel completely content, because you want to be exploring the world. You want your children to learn from experiencing real life. Whether you have wanderlust in your heart, you have never traveled anywhere, or you fall somewhere in between, I hope that you will make the leap and travel as much as you can. Even if it’s not far. Even if it doesn’t cost much…or anything! There are so many adventures waiting to be had. They may not always be convenient. There are times they may not turn out how you planned (like my son and I covered in (most likely) animal poop at the pumpkin patch today!) But it makes my heart sad when I meet people who never had the chance to explore the world, even if it is close to home!
I grew up in a poor family with divorced parents. My parents worked hard (and still do!) and made sure that we always had everything we needed and a little extra. We may not have gone on yearly extravagant vacations, but some of my best childhood memories were camping at the lake in the back of my dad’s truck, and even driving for several days to Utah to visit my grandma. The things I saw and experienced along the way made them the best memories.
My dad probably thought I would never remember a lot of these moments, like campfire stories, going down the river in our canoe and having to bail water out after every set of rapids, finding shiny black arrowhead rocks in the desert, a road construction flagger dumping the ice from our ice chest down her shirt because it was so hot in the desert…and then asking if we wanted it back…(yes this really happened!) I tried sushi for the first time in Hawaii when I was 12. When I was a teenager, my dad and I drove to Canada so I could practice driving..we got several hours away and realized we had forgotten the key to our gas cap lock. On a trip all over California when I was 14, we went to Pea Soup Andersen’s and I fell in love with pea soup (I’m an avid pea hater) and now everytime we head that way, we have to stop! Taking my son there this past June was very special to me. I love when he experiences activities and places that hold special memories for me.
Finding a balance between living my “cookie cutter” life and fulfilling my wanderlust passions is a constant work in progress, but it is exciting, challenging and rewarding, and I am so excited to share it with you!
As an adult, I do a lot of traveling with my mom!
Do you have travel memories from childhood? Good, bad, funny, leave a memory in the comments below! Follow me on Instagram to see what we are up to, and subscribe below with your email address, and I will send you an email when there is something new and exciting on my blog!
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