Following Your Heart: The Traveler

I recently purged some old belongings and found a school project with a question from the teacher along the lines, “What do you want to be when you are older?”. I simply wrote, have a family, travel and take pictures. For a long time I have had the yearning to travel the world. To help and love on people and document my travels and experiences through writing and photography. I honestly feel like this is a gift, a calling, a job. It has burned deep within me for many years, that I finally chose to take the leap. A few key life events helped push me over the edge, and I will go more into that in a later entry. As for now, this is my story of how my love for travel was birthed.

The desire to travel was embedded in me. As the youngest of four girls growing up in Ottawa, Canada, we often took road trips. In my younger years it was the family of six packed into the teal 1976 Cadillac driving to Rehobeth Beach, Delaware. A family vacation spot up to this day. At times it was a sister road trip, occasionally it was my parents and I, or my parents and a few of us girls. Often it was for a typical Sunday drive to get out of the city limits, to see a new town, revisit an old town, an excuse to visit friends. Other times it was a weekend trip, Montreal to see Grandma when she was still alive. I loved those trips. We got to ride the metro into town for the best shopping, yummy treats, and to experience the metropolitan big city culture. Then there were weekend trips to the Toronto area to see family and friends. Or how about the times we drove to and from Winnipeg, Manitoba in the middle of winter. On many occasions. Regardless of the place or distance I was destined to travel before I was even out of the womb.

I grew up in the day where Walkmans were a novelty, where every man, woman or child wasn't equipped with entertainment at their finger tips. What we had were the sights and sounds outside our car window. I had a little Rubbermaid storage box that kept a few toys, games or trinkets and it also provided me with the height to see outside my window. I would sit on my makeshift booster seat and stare out the car window watching the world go by. Painting pictures on the fogged up windows, counting license plates from different states, and wishing I could visit every single one of them. I enjoyed seeing the contrasting landscapes, the cities, the cars people drove, the different families and people in those cars, catching a candid moment in a strangers life.

The birth of my love to travel came forth, from the fondness my parents shared with us kids. Being hauled on vacations and trips could be one persons nightmare, for me it was an adventure. Seeing something I have never seen before, and may never see again. Even today, my family is traveling, or making plans to travel. I am in Norway, my parents are planning a trip overseas, one sister travels extensively for work and play, another has a family trip booked to Hawaii, and the eldest is heading out of the country this week. The love was born. We were all called, I am called, and this is my journey.

I am by no means a professional in either writing or photography. Though, I do believe that in the areas of life that we feel called, we hold a key to change. Through stepping out in faith and taking a risk. By doing what makes our heart feel scared and vulnerable. We have the ability to cause change in our lives and the lives of others. This is my humble step of obedience. 

As much as I wanted to include a picture of my childhood with this post, all of my non digital pictures are in another country! So here is a recent travel picture of me in Verdens Ende (World's End), Norway.