The future is the present

At the beginning of 2015 I truly believed this year would include no travel. I told my best friend there would be no annual trip to St. Louis to visit her, her husband, and her little kiddos. There was no real possibility of a car or plane trip to visit family in Virginia or Florida. But, oh how wrong I was.

There was that trip to Kansas CIty to audition for Sports Jeopardy, the weekend in Cincinnati with an old friend eating macaroons and canoeing on the Little Miami, the short trip to Athens with the aforementioned bestie and her kids to explore our old stomping grounds, Minneapolis for work, Austin, TX for a party, and now?

CALIFORNIA!

Back in May my parents gave me a birthday card and threw me a mini surprise birthday party at the house. I expected none of it. My birthday is in November. To me, that night in May was like any other Saturday dinner at the house, but for them it was the chance to give me the surprise of a lifetime. A trip to CA for as long as I could manage to stay with my uncle. A trip that would include a football game to watch my 49ers in person, give me days to wander around my favorite city ever, San Francisco. A trip that allows me to go back to where I came from, enjoy nice weather in the midst of the changing season here in Ohio (the kicker is that El Nino is causing a bit of a warm up here in the Midwest, so the weather is pretty much the same), delaying the inevitable cold weather to come.

And now, the future is the present. The anticipation and expectant waiting is about to pay off, because here starts the beginning of the longest vacation I have taken on my own. 

The anticipation of this trip has totally eclipsed just about anything (well, paying off the car was pretty huge) I have waited on recently. 

As I write this I'm just thinking about how exciting it will be that my next post will be written from California. I mean, come on. It IS well with my soul right now, even if life isn't all good right now.

But for this time and in this place I get to rest. I get to enjoy sunshine and family, football and friends, and that is good. 

Also, I've had six months to plan and I still don't have anything concrete. And I'm enjoying the freedom that comes with winging it and just seeing what happens!