Live your dreams...

It's 2009.
Are there many things you had in mind to do when you were...say 23? Did you get side tracked by school, student loans, work, raising a family, obligations...yada yada?? Make yourself a list and start making it happen. Travel is one thing I wanted to do a lot of. Having a family by my mid 20's kind of sidetracked my wild ambitions of traveling through Greece and the islands with my friends. I nearly ripped my hair out listening to the recap of their Mediterranean adventure. The wanderlust had been in me since I was a child. The wonder, the excitement, the appetite for adventure lived inside me for as long as I can remember. Now I see my children who are teenagers now, having adventures of their own. I am so excited about them discovering everything around them.

Each were given an amazing gift by their Aunt Anne, who has no children of her own. What she does have is over a dozen nieces and nephews...and they just keep coming. Every year when each of them turns 13, she takes them on a trip anywhere in the continental US they want to go, provided they plan the week. My daughter, Ellie chose the Grand Canyon. Anne made sure she was one of the 1 or 2% of children her age to hike to the bottom. Her week was full of Pink Jeep Tours, Colorado River rafting, swims in 45 degree water and stunning photo opps. For Christmas, Anne creates an album complete with every ticket stub...and barf bag (clean one) needed on the trip. I don't have digitals of Elle's trip...

My son Matthew took my camera with him to the Four Corners, where he mountain biked in Moab, complete with flipping over the handlebars, hiked Arches, and had the experience of a lifetime. I just posted some of his pictures on Flickr and my hit count spiked. Oh, Aunt Annie, you gave these kids presents that are priceless and they will never forget them!

Here are a few of Matt's shots from Utah:




And here is one Anne took of Matthew. Now I would never have left him on the edge of the abyss like this, so good thing he was with his Aunt! She opened their thirteen year old universes up to the world and he is sitting in the middle of it.


So, let 2009 be the year you start your adventures!