Expectations

Obviously, no one knows what the future will hold, and most of us have been made painfully aware that life is capable of throwing some hard and fast curve balls. That still does not keep us from having reasonable expectations of what might take place in the next several months of our lives.

I decided to put some things down in black and white because I think it will be amusing how far off I am at the end of the year. You've heard that old joke, right? Wanna see the gods laugh, just make some plans.

In my family, our plans have always changed like the wind, so I was cured long ago of thinking I had anything remotely like full control of my schedules. So these are just some very broad, projections. A kind of combination of plans and hopeful thinking. And still, I wouldn't be at all surprised to be pretty far off. Since I'm all about wanting to travel, that's pretty much the only topic I'll spout off about.

I've already taken my first trip of the year. And since it was moving my mother to my sister's home, that trip will be often repeated. My sister gets at least one 3 day weekend a month and she likes to take advantage of them by traveling. I will usually go up to stay with my mother on those weekends, to visit with her, and to give my sister a well-deserved break. This isn't as good an arrangement as we might hope, because it means I won't often get to go out with my sister joining us and she's a lot of fun.

In any case, suffice it to say, I will probably be making the Las Vegas - Reno trip almost every month. I have no problem with that, I only hope to have the opportunity to go elsewhere, as well. In any case, my next trip is next month, and I've already got the car and flight booked.

And then there's New Orleans. I've recently mentioned in this space my regret for not having taken advantage of my proximity to the city in the previous year to spend more time there, particularly since I flew and drove in and out of it so many times. Well, looks like I'll get to make up for it a little in a couple of weeks.

As I tweeted lately, I'd like to spend Super Bowl weekend in the French Quarter. I want to watch the Super Bowl among a lot of people who are as mind boggled as I am that the Saints will be playing, after seeing them bring up the rear of the league for literally decades. Few of us expect them to actually win, but that's okay.

Last year, they made it as far as they did last weekend, then got their asses kicked. This year, they won that match and progressed to the big one...where they will probably get their asses kicked again. I would like to think that they will once more make to the Super Bowl in 2013 and win that one...in the New Orleans Superdome, where it will be played that year. That may be asking a bit much but, hey, we all have our little dreams.

My point is that this is historic for some of us natives of Louisiana. We grew up watching this team be created only to lose and lose and lose for decades. I'd like to be in the French Quarter on Super Bowl Sunday with others who share this experience, and it looks like it's gonna happen. So I'm looking forward to that.

Also, I have not been to the Quarter in years and years. And when I did go, it was usually just for a matter of hours, because I lived in the city. So I'm really looking forward to a couple of days being completely immersed in it. Having said that, I've flown in and out of New Orleans so many freaking times in my life, it's hard to be more than mildly excited. I'm still craving places that are a bit more unfamiliar.

So February holds a trip to New Orleans and a trip to Reno. Both of those are just for a weekend.

March looks like another quick trip to New Orleans, maybe a 4 day weekend, to bring my mother to visit her family in Louisiana. It will be a little different than the carefree trips on my own in February, but shouldn't be very difficult.

Now I feel like I'm not only going to be way off base, but that I'm actually tempting fate by saying stuff like that. I know only too well what kind of unexpected crap happens while traveling. Still, these are, as I said, reasonable expectations.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be back in the Florida panhandle at some point. There are some things that need to be taken care of there, and I have a feeling I'm gonna get stuck with it. If so, it'll probably be around March, maybe even during the same trip I take with my Mom.

My sister wants to go to a festival in April, and she's got a conference in May, so two more trips to Reno. But those are two great months to travel, almost anywhere, so I'm kinda hoping to check out something new in at least one of those months. Seems like it would almost have to be somewhere not too very far away, another weekend trip but maybe to somewhere I've never been before?

I'm thinking I'd like to do something a little different during the summer, too. I want to go to New York, but that's not the best time, and I'm thinking I may be able to tack it on to the front or back of a European trip. Another thought was taking the 7yo, maybe even the toddler. to some parks. Yellowstone, Yosemite. Maybe even the Grand Canyon. I could go for that. I've been to Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, so I'd probably start with Yellowstone, in case we didn't make it to all the stops. At least, I'd get to see something new.

I hope September will find me in Europe. There are actually some things that make this a realistic expectation, not too far fetched, although it seems more likely that it would be October or November. And I would be fine with that. But September is my favorite month, my birthday month, although I no longer celebrate it. I'm starting to kind of want to celebrate it, though. I'm starting to want to pamper myself and treat myself. My kids are on their own now, but they have been for a few years, and this is an unexpected development.

I've suddenly realized I can do what I want, when I want and the way I want...subject to circumstances, of course. One of my most recent lessons is that even when I have no one to please by myself, I sometimes have to compromise and do something I'm not wild about in order to achieve two different things that I want. Isn't it amazing how we never stop learning stuff about life?

One nice result is that I got to see the Alamo and the lovely San Antonio Riverwalk, just because I felt like it. Unfortunately, another result is that I'm seeing a lot of movies I don't consider worth the time. Gonna have to start using my time more wisely.

Strangely enough, I've been having a hankering to go to Los Angeles for a few days. I lived there, on and off, for several years. But it was a long, long time ago, and I've never really had any urge to go back, so I don't know where that's coming from. But it's right there, so there's no reason not to go over and take another look. I have no earthly idea what I'll do there, maybe just go back and revisit where I used to live and hang out and see what's changed. Regardless, I may go, just because I can and I feel like it. I'm a real big believer in following those types of feelings...if I can.

I'll tell you this, I'm starting to feel like I'm transforming in some way. I've always enjoyed traveling, but I loved so many of the places I visited that I was always torn between going back to them and going somewhere new. And that's still the same, because it's been so long since I've seen most of the places I've been to in the past, I definitely want to revisit them. But I'm so much more open now to visiting places that I was never even all that interested in before. Now, it's like I want to go everyfreakingwhere.

It's not even like traveling anymore. I'm starting to feel like the only way I'll get to see everything that I want, and spend as much time as I want in those places, is to be some kind of nomad. Just going, and going, and going, only to stop every few months to visit family. And, to tell you the truth, it sounds a little uncomfortable. In spite of my love for travel, I am very much a homebody, a nester. I love being back home from travels and just relaxing in my own space.

I actually once experienced being on the go for too long. It was right after my father died, when I was in my twenties. My mother was having a rough time dealing with it and I was the only one available to go away with her. We had started out with my brother and his family in Sardinia, then Greece. Then we took a couple of his in-laws with us to Paris. They went on home from there, and we went to the south of France. By then, I was already tired of eating restaurant food for so long. But we went on to London, then Dublin. That's when I had to call it quits, and it was certainly less than a month, maybe a little over 3 weeks.

I think I could go much longer now, though, mainly because it's not necessary to eat 3 meals a day in restaurants anymore. But also because it's so much easier to find longer term furnished vacation rentals to spend weeks at a time that are more comfortable than staying in hotels all the time. Thank you craigslist et al. So I'm pretty sure I could do it if I could get communications straightened out. I would need at least a little phone, and a lot of internet, access wherever I am. So we'll see. Will the end of the year find me roaming the globe? It's probably the most optimal time of my life to do it, actually, which hadn't occurred to me before. So, yeah, I guess we'll see.

If that does turn out to be the case, I hope I freaking learn how to take better photos.