REFLECTIONS

As I boarded the plane back to Mississippi, I tried to review what all has happened in the last seven months.  One thought stands out. What a charmed adventure of a person that is truly blessed.  Many people have supported me with their prayers and emails, and I thank you all.  When I started out, I did not have any plans or reservations anywhere.  I only had a general idea of where I wanted to go and a dream to complete my travels in every continent in the world.  That dream now has been completed.  I have traveled in every continent in the world.  While I haven't seen every country, nor did I get to go to every country that I started out to see as plans changed.  I still have the feeling of accomplishing a life's goal.  Years ag, I was a student of the poets, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.  One had said to always set your goals beyond your reach so that you will always be striving to reach them all through your life.  The other said to set your goals low enough so that you can always reach them.  That way one has a sense of accomplishments and then will set other goals to reach.  I have all of my life modified both by setting some goals that are reachable, and others that you can strive to reach while alive.  It feels good when you reach a milestone.  I now have that feeling.

Traveling helps me combine two basic ingredients that have driven me in my life.  They are the thirst of knowledge and being a free spirit.  I have always had the desire to learn from anyone.  It was initially instilled in me by my mother before she died, and afterwards the reality of being able to be independent, one had to have an education.  I have always realized that I was a free spirited individual living in a structured society.  Traveling always let me do both, and not be structured. The feeling of freedom just oozes out of the body.  I always loved being a lawyer as you got paid to be educated on a case, and one can be free to do most anything in a court room.  It is that free spirit living in a structured society (court room) that I thrived on.  It didn't matter who the judge was, because you give me a jury, and a level playing field, "we" will take care of the situation.  I loved it, as much as I loved traveling.  Traveling gives one the opportunity to walk in strangers' footprints, and walk on his land . Not only do I learn so much from doing it, but I am also humbled by it.  Walking in a stranger's foot prints and on his land make me realize that the world is not centered around any one individual no matter what the status is.  Each of us is a microcosm in the big picture of life.  This travel and adventure rein stilled those values in me for which I am grateful.  It has truly been a charmed adventure.

 As I go back to Mississippi, there are certain trepidacious thoughts going through my mind.  Certain doors have been permanently closed, while other doors are opening up.  There will be other adventures, other travels, not only in Mississippi, but in other parts of the world. Let them begin as I love life.