“Laura Living Life” by Momma

It was with effervescent excitement that my daughter came to me many months ago with her ‘dream trip”. She had the opportunity to take a year off from work and travel the world, leaving behind her work responsibilities, and with the help of family and friends, her home and dog responsibilities, in pursuit of a dream to ‘see the world!” It was overwhelming to me at first, to have her travel alone in some far away countries, but she quickly began to fill me in on her plans, hopes, and dreams of what she wanted to see, how she planned on accomplishing her goals and also how important they were to her overall life enrichment. She’s not a kid who you tell, NO, to!!  Never has been, and probably never will be. She has always been very determined and decisive about what she wants in life! It is I, who she usually has to convince of her plans and schemes.

She has done a great job of convincing me these last eleven days. Now, that is not to say that there have not been some setbacks and some stressed out times, but overall she maintains a quiet and calm nature that settles her father and I. It started with a 20+ hour plane flight(s) that would have had any sane person ready to scream…but Laura calmly made car rental arrangements and jumped into the left side of the car and drove away to our first hotel. Garmin didn’t always cooperate with navigation, but Laura has an innate sense of direction and she has usually been able to pilot us through these Australian highways, tunnels, and highways with ease and confidence. Kudo’s to her Navy NFO training!!!

Most nights she would show me her plans for the next day, as she had downloaded them to her Google Calendar with details about the hotels, restaurants, adventures and their related costs and time constraints. Wow, that must of taken a lot of time and research! She also showed me her plans for the time after Jim and I head back to the US, of which I was pretty nervous…ok at times, freaking out!!  She showed me the hostels she planned on staying in, and I was super impressed with the price, accommodations, travel guides and scheduled side trips. Why had I never heard of these types of travel lodgings? They are set up for exactly what she wants to do, and they bring together lots of people with similar interests like Laura has. The hostels give young people the opportunity to share her experiences with others, so she won’t necessarily be alone in her travels. This makes me feel so much better!!!

Ok, my sweet daughter. As always, you have convinced your skeptical Mom. I knew you would, I mean, you always do, but I really thought you might have bitten off too much this time. Silly Mom 🙂  I never thought I would feel so good about releasing you to Australia and South East Asia, but you have this infectious confidence that I know will keep your dreams alive. I know you understand that to achieve anything in life requires faith, hard work, determination, dedication, and a strong belief in yourself. It has been said that “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams” and I believe you are doing just that. You Got This Girl!!

~ Love Momma