category: traveling

skipping in bedulu.

my daughter, with children from the Yayasan Widya Guna, Bedulu, Bali, August 2008

this time last year, there was so much anticipation in our family for our upcoming trip to bali. i'm having a bit of seasonal memory jog, reliving the feelings as the sun shines brighter and we settle into summer. it was our first trip to asia as a family, and it proved to be everything and then some. i've spoken before of how it led me to where i am now, and how i am committed to bringing more and more of these kinds of connected travel experiences to our family. and, i've also spoken of how this year, so far at least, it appears to be a no-go. this is a ground work year. this is the year to stage the platform so that this kind of travel will become a regular part of our experience. it's a big dream. and i believe wholly that it will happen.

a huge part of that trip was the easy flow of it all. how i spoke out loud my desire for us to have a more personal experience and we did. we effortlessly met up with two wonderful men at the ubud monkey forest who were with a group of american high school students sponsored by the organization international doorways. i had already established my affinity for doorways and for my doorways traveler identity when i met them, which just made the meeting all the more kindred. within moments of conversing they invited us to join them at the "children's home" where they were volunteering that afternoon (i had just that morning been looking online for places we could volunteer and visit where my children could meet other children…). within a few hours, we were literally teaching the afternoon english lesson and sharing laughs with a group of beautiful and amazing children. we spent an additional few long afternoons and evenings with them, hanging out, helping to clean up their village, sharing meals and preparing the local temple for an upcoming ceremony. it was so gratifying to see my children playing badminton and skipping through the streets with their fast friends. truly, a dream come true.

made rai, bedulu, bali, august 2008

and the connection remains. we are now sponsoring a gorgeous, beaming little girl we met there. we are committed to covering her educational expenses throughout her years of schooling. she emails us regularly and asks often when we will be back. it is my promise to her that we will return as soon as we are able.

please check out the good work that the WINS project, USA is doing for the children of bali. you don't have to visit to sponsor a child and i can assure you that i have witnessed first hand the authenticity of this organization. and if you are traveling to bali, they provide transportation as well, with all the proceeds going to support the project and the children.

my son with children from the Yayasan Widya Guna, Bedulu, Bali, august 2008

so this summer, as i dig deeper into crafting the doorways project, the project that will bring many more of these types of experiences into our lives, it will be memories of our time in bali that will motivate me. memories of my children making friends in far-away places, memories of found family and distant homes. memories of skipping in bedulu and dreams of the many other places where doors will open and our feet will land.

Categories: experiencing, imagining, inspiring, traveling

fly.

flying into santa barbara, april 2009, canon rebel xti

conjuring up ways to get myself back on an airplane. what is this restlessness inside of me? travel, adventure, newness…it's like food and water to me. i suppose in some ways i feel so stuck, those aforementioned deep underground basement ways, and having travel, movement, on the calendar makes it tolerable.

no, that's not really it.

i just like to go places. hurl myself through space in a speeding vessel of steel. imagining it's me that has wings. feet landing somewhere unfamiliar. faces never before seen. the opportunity to reintroduce myself, both inside and out. be opened, scared a little and jarred into fresh perspective.

it's addicting.

and i can't wait for the next time.

Categories: traveling