A moment to reflect

Steph is out with friends, the kids are in bed. In two days we will be off on our wild journey. Been planning this for a year or so, been thinking about it since the end of the 2007 trip. Sometimes the moments you wait for can be the most intimidating. But they are a chance to rise up and show the best you have to offer.

Some random thoughts:

I hope that someday my kids will share my love of travel. I hope that they will learn to discover the magic that any new place can provide. I hope that they won't be travel snobs and can make anyplace in the world a destination, no matter how mundane it might seem on the surface.

I hope that mom really attempts to run the video camera when she's in the RV.

I know that, even with a major breakdown in the middle of Texas, we were incredibly lucky on our last trip to have so few problems. I hope we are so lucky again, but more importantly, if we are NOT so lucky, I hope we all handle it well.

I hope that some day I am able to share this kind of journey with close friends.

I hope that my camcorder holds out, and if it does decide to die, that it does so near civilization.

I hope I can find the time once school starts to make the DVD of this trip.

I hope I don't have to back the trailer up too much. I suck at it.

I hope people read the blog and are interested in our goings-on while we're gone.

I hope I don't forget anything important.

I hope I can enter this trip in a mentally good place, ready to open myself to the experience, enjoy the freedom of place, share the wonder of the world with my family, and come back a richer person for the memories.

I hope there are more trips like this one to come.

...

T-minus 34 hours...

Let's do this.