Traveling Without a Net

It's been a long time since I've taken a trip of any real length, and the one I'm planning for late next month is a doozy. With the freedom of a retiree, I'm spending a week at my mother's in Arkansas (haven't seen her in ten years), followed by another week visiting friends in St. Louis (where I lived for much of my childhood and young adulthood) and Kansas City.

Needless to say, the trip's going to bring some challenges. I'll be flying from San Diego to Arkansas, then to St. Louis, and from Kansas City back home to California. That's a lot of sitting. While there's not a lot of activity planned at Mom's (she lives in a small town and I'm there pretty much to catch up), the St. Louis leg of the trip involves socializing almost daily and a bunch of family tree research. This means a lot of driving, as does the journey up to KC.

And did I mention I'm making the trip alone?

This is all a little intimidating. The advantages of being close to home, having Mrs. Lucky nearby in case of emergency (or even angst), the comfort of a familiar bed to turn to when it gets to be too much physically or mentally, I'll be without all of these and more for two weeks. I only leave our apartment a few times a month these days.

But I'm already starting to reap some of the trip's benefits more than a month before I leave. For instance, I've written frequently in this blog about my non-existent social life. Well, one of the people I'm visiting in St. Louis is my childhood best friend, whom I haven't seen in more than 20 years. My Kansas City buddy (whom I've known since high school) just got over a nasty divorce and I get the feeling from our email correspondence that my visit might do him as much good as it will me. One highlight of St. Louis will be dinner with a group of co-workers from a job I left nearly 16 years ago. It's the world's biggest cliche, but our crew was like family, and seeing them RSVP one by one on Facebook has been as good as any therapy.

The journey will also force me to plan wisely and act on those plans. I'm only in town a week, so there's no putting off seeing anyone on my list. Rescheduling with anyone isn't an option. I'll also get a much-needed boost of self-confidence. Many of my nagging fears about the trip are unfounded, and just watching the journey unfold will prove to myself that I'm capable.

There'll be plenty of updates before and during the trip. In the meantime, I'm quietly reminding myself just how important this trip will be to my ongoing journey through the healing process.