There are days when I sit and stare at this computer screen and think, “What in the hell were you thinking – who would want to read what you have to say?”  Then there are days when I stare at this computer screen and think, “This blogging thing is the best gift I have ever given myself!” Yay me! A little neurotic?

What the World Has to Say to Me

Maybe.  But in the soon-to-be one year from the day I launched One Road at a Time, I have discovered that it isn’t so much about what I have to say, but rather it’s about what the world has to say to me.

The World of Blogging

Kim, of So Many Places, was the first blogger I connected with online, just as she and her husband were about to start traveling the world.  Kim and her husband, Brian, were from Portland and we live in southern Oregon, so there was a tiny little pacific northwest connection between us.  But what I discovered in Kim was that she is probably one of the most open and giving spirits I’ve ever come across.  Since Kim had both feet firmly planted in the blogging world – I asked her a few several many gazillion questions and her support of my efforts never faltered.

Talon, of 1 Dad, 1 Kid, came into my blog-a-sphere just weeks before we were to leave for Paris in January of this year.  I don’t even remember how we connected online but somehow we discovered we would be in Paris at the same time.  Hey, want to meet up?  Sure!  Thanks to Facebook’s algorithms we almost didn’t connect – but we figured it out and met at Starbucks of all places.  It’s a surreal thing to travel across the ocean and have coffee with someone you’ve never met in your life, but by the time you say good-bye you know you’ve made a friend for life.

A family of three, known as the Travel Junkies, are traveling the world.  Dad, Jason, Mom, Kerri and daughter, Sydney are now in their 10th month of traveling the world one month at a time.  Sydney has the world as her classroom and as a retired teacher I am so inspired by how lucky Sydney is to have this opportunity to learn first hand what the world has to offer and truth be told I look forward to reading, Sydney’s Corner, of the family blog.

How did I find Amy of Our Big Fat Travel Adventure?  I cannot say.  Really, I can’t remember.  But there was something about her smile and her story that captured my interest.  She and Andrew are currently traveling in southeast Asia and what she has shared through the voice of her blog is an open and honest dialogue of what long-term travel is all about.  The good, the really good, the bad, the ugly and even the creepy crawly, she’s up front about all of it.

Those are just a few of the voices that have inspired me in the past year and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.  There are others, too numerous to mention them all,  but Suzanne, Cathy, Tasha and Mike are among those I connect with on a regular basis, through the touch of a keypad.  With the exception of Talon and his son, I have never met any of the others – but that’s actually okay because I feel as if I know them.  I do hope, however, that one day our paths will cross somewhere in this vast world of ours.  That’s what this world of blogging has brought to me; an inspiring group of people I would have never met in this lifetime.  I now call them friends.  And that’s an awesome gift.

Who Are You?

I recently sat down to chat with a few good friends who have known me for many years and they rolled their eyes, laughed and asked me, “Who are you?” as I rattled off my new found blogger vocabulary.  The knowledge I’ve gleaned in the past year has far surpassed any expectations I had when I launched this blog.  And, an added bonus, as I celebrate the first birthday of One Road at a Time it turns out there are actually quite a few of you who do want to read what I have to say and for that I am truly grateful.

Celebrating a successful 1st year

It’s All About Balance

I love writing this blog, but I will admit I still have days when I seriously consider throwing this laptop out the window door (replacing the window would be too expensive) but I try to balance that out with all of the good that has come my way through the way-over-my-head world of technology.

So, come October 14, 2013, I’ll close the book on my first year, but I’m just getting warmed up, so please stay with me as I write my way through year two of traveling the world… One Road at a Time.

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