I love to travel. And for the first time, I am taking this girl...my daughter...on her first international adventure. As we touch down in Guatemala and see the culture that is waiting there, it is hard to imagine the anxiety I felt for the past two weeks waiting to receive Maya's passport! Life is funny that way...we immerse ourselves in that moment in time and play through our heads the worse possible outcomes available to us. When the passport did not come by July 1, even though we applied back in May, panic edged in, we leave on the 15th! When a letter in the mail came asking for more documentation that I was indeed her mother, panic waltzed into the room and took up residence. A trip to Chicago with the documentation to prove parenthood was necessary. Come on, don't other people have hyphenated names...one of which matched her name perfectly! We left with passport in hand...but more than that we left with relief. The trip was going to happen. Mom did retain her heroine cape. And now we could settle into one of my favorite parts of the trip, planning and anticipation.
And, as a side note, all the reviews on YELP of the officials at the US Department of State Passport in Chicago. They really are that friendly and helpful. Huh?! Who would of thunk?!
And now as we nap in our first hotel room of the week, a different relief, we are here and we are ready to see what we can see.
There is so much about travel that is out of your control. It is a test of patience and humility. You get herded here, to wait in line there. Delays are inevitable. Language barriers abound. If you fill out the wrong passport form to get into Guatemala at customs, they really will send you back to the end of that half hour or so line you were just in, to fill the form out correctly again. And to wait, yet again, in that half hour line. There is no suggestion box. There is no talking your way into the country. There is no amount of complaining to get your way. You just turn and go and fill it out and wait your turn. If any of you travelers out there are not meditating or practicing some form of mindfulness, don't travel to other countries. It is a test of the American belief that things should happen fast, instantaneously even.
They really don't. And travel shouldn't. It should be slow and purposeful and in the moment.
And, if you don't have the ability to go to that peaceful place and put a half smile on the outside, I can't even imagine what you are putting your body through with the stress that is created by a choice in our expectations of how things should be. Travel challenges you to remove all preconceived notions and to allow whatever needs to unfold. It becomes a metaphor for life when you return home.
There is nothing sweeter as mother than seeing a new country through the eyes of your daughter. As we got into that bus and traveled through the streets of Guatemala City, the rush of cars, the living conditions, the way people here live. The sweetness of planting that travel bug in her. On the other hand, there is nothing scarier than to think that once that travel bug is in her, she will be off on her own adventures, and I will be the one left behind on occasion to practice going to my peaceful place, knowing that the universe is holding her safe, like she has done so many times for me.
Let the adventures continue!
Christie Gause-Bemis, mother, artist, writer, traveler....Hot Pink YOUniversity, www.hotpinkyou.com
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