If you had told me five years ago that today, October 14, 2012, I would be living in Ashland, Oregon, owning and operating a bed and breakfast inn and launching my 2nd blog, I would have told you, “I don’t think so.”  And yet, here I am doing just that.

Middle Age

I hate the term middle age.  Maybe it’s because I’m not a big fan of labeling anything, but really, who lives to be 112?  Middle age sounds like my mother, couldn’t possibly describe me.  And yet, here I am being just that… middle aged, but refusing to succumb to it.  Life is too short and I (we) have way too much to do to place any labels on ourselves.

I have to say though that it took this road we are currently on to find my voice and it took blogging, to give me a venue for said voice.  There must have been hundreds of thousands of closeted voices before blogging came along.  And I bet every one of us has a secret desire to write a book but in the mean time, it’s all about the blog.

I love writing the blog and it makes me smile whenever a guest tells me they read it and it helped them decide to stay with us.  It can’t get much better than that.  But through the process of writing On the Road to Abigail’s (see a road pattern here?) I discovered there was more to say.  I am surrounded by travelers every day and it has made me think about all of our travels over the years and I relish reading about others adventures as well.  In ’09/10 I spent a year traveling (vicariously) with a man who drove around the world in one year.  His writing style was not the best, but his journey was amazing!  You can read about him here.  I recently met and became friends with (via online) Kim and Brian who have just started traveling ’round the world and I am inspired by their courage to make the choice to be on the right road at this time of their lives.  You can read about them here.  So, yes, I am surrounded by travelers every day and I love it.  There is great big world out there and there is so much to see and be inspired by.  When is the last time you felt truly inspired?  When is the last time you asked yourself if you were on the right road at this moment of your life?

The one good thing I can say about reaching this point (the middle point) of my life is that it allows certain freedoms.  I stopped worrying about what others might think, I’ve learned to let go of things I should have let go of years ago and I’ve learned to live for the moment.  I’ve also learned (about myself) that I’m not ever going to just sit back and watch life pass me by.  I think age is just a number, it doesn’t have to dictate which road you travel or when.

So, a few months ago I sat down with paper and pencil and made a list of all of the states and countries my husband, son and I have visited either as a family or individually or with others.  It was pretty damn impressive but most of it was done long before the days of digital cameras and blogging.  Traveling the world (and writing about it) is a BIG part of our next chapter, yet to be written, but the outline is being drafted as we tend to our guests and live in our beautiful 108-year-old home.

I have days when I feel as if I’m a little bit late to the world of blogging, but it’s never really too late, right?  I hope you’ll follow along as we continue to travel the world… One Road at a Time.

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