Trips, trips and trippin'!

My first passport picture is of me sitting on my mom’s lap at the age of 17 months. I am surrounded by 3 of my 5 sisters. The youngest two weren't born yet. We traveled to Japan where my mother said I first started to mimic the behavior of others. She said as a toddler, I would sit cross legged and chant the same way I saw many of the Buddhist population do. To this day, my "voice mimicry" game is strong. We ended up living in Okinawa Japan for several years.

Traveling with my parents was my norm and as an adult I began to travel on my own after I enlisted in the United States Army. I love traveling! It isn't about the actual mode of transportation or where I am traveling to. Whether it is another country or a car ride to another city, for me it is all about the opportunity. People watching, new food delicacies, the history surrounding the location and the new relationships formed.

Speaking of which. Once upon a time, I traveled to Chicago to celebrate my son's basic training graduation. I met a woman whose son was also graduating. We became fast friends and hung out the entire weekend. We bar hopped, hung out in each other's rooms and it didn't end when the trip did. One day she called me and told me she was going to be in Vegas on a business trip and wanted me to meet her there. We picked up right where we left off. Several years later, her son called to tell me she had passed away. I mourned the loss.

In November, upon returning home from my last trip of 2025 - it was the 28th, to be exact......I didn't want to get out of the bed. I actually laid in bed the entire first week of December and convinced myself that I just needed to rest. But then it was two weeks and quickly spiraling into 3. I binge watched shows, talked myself out of going to the gym and had hasty phone conversations and minimal business chats.

I initially talked myself into "feeling" better because I was hosting my daughter and one of her Howard college besties and I take hosting extremely seriously. There were bedrooms to spruce up, furniture to dust, a much-needed store run and dishes to prepare. By the time they arrived on the 26th, I was ready but I made a mental note to revisit what might have prompted the doldrums.

My first trip in 2025 was to New York. It was February. It was cold, snowing, expensive, fun, fun and more fun. In April my husband and I attended a professional tennis tournament in Charleston where we splurged on the best seats in the house. Two weeks later, we were in Maryland for my grandmother’s 103rd birthday. In May I went home (the central valley of California) for a friend's 50th wedding Anniversary and then returned to California (Los Angeles) for a business trip, three weeks later. A day after I returned from L.A., we drove to Florida to relax at a resort for a week. It was much needed. August was a short trip to Greensboro for a three-day business conference. I came home really jazzed up about the potential of earning more money based on a new pay structure. I found myself back home in California to help celebrate my Mama's 88th birthday in September. I was there for two weeks and truly, there is no place like home. In November I had two back-to-back trips that had no wiggle room in between. My flight from Dallas landed at almost midnight on the 22nd and on the 24th at 6 am, we were driving to Florida for a thanksgiving trip to Sea World with my girls and grands. ten trips in ten months.

I was tired. I just didn't know it. I didn't feel it. Until I did. I am looking forward to my 2026 travel plans however COMMA it is my intention to be much more strategic about where I go and when. Back-to-back trips aren't reasonable and maybe I don't need to do all of the cooking when I go on the road. What about a massage in a new location or trying out a local spa in a new city? Traveling doesn't have to equal exhaustion.



I will be out of the country this year and it is my goal to create more memories, make new acquaintances, eat extraordinary dishes and explore new places. Stay tuned!