Opportunity

When Anna was an infant, I used to drive in a big circle out to the airport to try to get her to fall asleep. Roughly once a week my dad would come up for the day and we'd use this time to have long “blue-sky” conversations—about wishes, dreams, goals—the sky was the limit.

At the time, my main fantasy was to raise Anna as a world traveler. In it, David, Anna, and I would pick a destination each year and spend time learning about the culture, language, and customs in preparation for our journey. Then off the 3 of us would go for anywhere from 2–6 weeks.

The birth of this blog came from the first such opportunity. A lot had changed since those blue-sky talks. My dad had died suddenly and unexpectedly, which eventually resulted in my pursuing a dream of fluency in French. That led directly, but unintentionally, into a 6-week house-swap opportunity in Normandy, which was the impetus for starting this blog.

And now the universe has offered another such opportunity: a trip to Japan! Recently, David and I were talking about the fantasy of travel, but weren't really feeling prepared or motivated to do much about it. A leisure trip so soon after France just didn't seem feasible. Then David mentioned a conference happening in Tokyo this November and said that he could submit a proposal for a talk. Nothing to lose, right?

A couple weeks ago David's proposal was accepted, but still. Japan's awfully far away and awfully expensive to get to. Can't hurt to ask about funding opportunities, right?

Several days ago we learned that David was chosen to receive funding for his travel expenses, meaning that, while still expensive, it's an opportunity we simply can't pass up.

I am a firm believer that if you let the universe know you want something, and the universe delivers, you don't ask questions! You just GO!

Of course, I'll be blogging all the way, beginning with resources I dig up in the process of researching our upcoming trip. And if you have any tips or resources to share, please do.

P.S. Dear universe, not to be greedy, but I'd like to make it known that if I have to declare a blogging niche, I'd love for it to be travel blogging! Just letting you know. Blue-sky.