The Joys of Travel

This weekend I get to venture to one of my favorite parts of the country, North Carolina. It is not that I’ve spent a great deal of time there, but that one of my very best girlfriends lives there and I will get to spend time with her!

As I get ready for this trip I notice that preparation in mid-life is different than it was just a decade or so ago. This week, in getting ready for my trip, I saw my physician, made appointments for two steroid injections (knee & spine), renewed my prescriptions and got a new one for those “power surges” that hit you in mid-life. Hopefully, on this new drug, I will be able to sleep through the night without having to “cool the fire within” every hour or so.

Also in getting ready to leave, I had to clear my desks – yes two desks, one at work and one at home. With work projects in fairly safe array (or in good hands while I’ll be gone) and school projects on track for appropriate completion for the end of the semester, I believe I will be able to get on that plane worry-free.

The trip comes in the form of a conference for work. The best news was that it would be in my girlfriend’s home-town. Two days with her, two days for work-related business and I should be ready to return to both my desks refreshed and renewed.

Travel is an interesting thing. It is always on my “wish list” when I tabulate the things I want to do in life yet, when it comes to actually taking a trip, a million headaches come to mind. Many of them airport related: Do I have all my liquids in less than 3-ounce bottles? Remember to wear shoes that are easy to slip off and on! Shall I pay to check my bag or schlep it on the plane in the hopes that some tall person will help me heft it up into the over-head storage compartment?

Then there are the ordinary woes of just being away from home: Should I take a bathing suit for the pool (do I want to be seen by strangers looking like a beached whale?)? Do I have the right clothes for the activities; will I need a dressy outfit; is there a banquet; can I wear jeans?

And finally, there is the question that arises anytime we go to see an old friend, especially one we don’t get to visit very often – what will she think of me? Will she care that I’ve put on a few pounds (Few is a delicate word!)? Will she hate my punky, spiky hair? Will we have enough in common to even hold an interesting conversation?

All these things roam through my head, but as I zip up my suitcase and scoop up my trench coat, I remember how every other visit with her has been (visits that go back nearly 40 years) and all I feel is warmth because she and I never care about each other’s looks, we always have enough to talk about – usually well into the night! We are old friends, in the most generous definition of the term, and I am so very excited to get to see her again.