As a Hero On A Mission (HOAM) one of the things I’ve envisioned is that Jill and I enjoy traveling together in the years to come. With four kids, a job that required my weekends, and limited funds. We’ve not been able to do much traveling alone as a couple over the 30+ years we’ve been married. But as our children grow into adulthood, I see a new chapter unfolding.
Yesterday my work took me to Watertown, South Dakota. I was a speaker for a leadership development event for a church that’s building a leadership pipeline. Jill and I were able to arrange things so she could come with me. As we talked about our 24-hour vacation we realized it had been a very long time since we’d been able to get away, just the two of us.
We intentionally chose not to travel over the past year for the sake of our health. And its hard to call driving two hours to Watertown for a 24-hour trip travel. But it was better than we’d managed in well over a year.
The speaking engagement was enjoyable. It was fun to see some people I’d been working with over the last year and meet some others for the first time. It was especially fun to introduce Jill to the people I knew. Jill and I discovered a fun little bakery called Five Loaves Bakery that sells absolutely delicious caramel rolls. We popped into another unique coffee shop and restaurant called Backroads and enjoyed a delicious breakfast croissant sandwich.
But what I enjoyed the most was the talks we had about future travels we will be taking. We shared ideas about a trip we’re planning either to the New England states, or to Washington state, this summer to take a scenic drive on US Highway 2.
That moved to plans for other times away to complete the US Highway 2 trek across the United States. A potential trip to New England in the fall to enjoy the colors. Then tonight Jill was looking through some of her family history and found the birthplace in Sweden of one of her ancestors who made the voyage to the United States as a 16-year-old without any family members going with her.
Now she and I are thinking about a future trip to Europe to visit places our ancestors lived and loved and raised families and died.
A HOAM has dreams. Those dreams motivate the kinds of behaviors needed for dreams to become reality.
