Saturday, December 6, 2014

Not This Time

I have been to Paris four times, yet somehow I never found the time to make the day trip to the palace at Versailles.  Sometimes travel goes that way.  Some places are so wonderful and filled with sights to see and activities to enjoy that you have to make choices.  Of course, you can choose to run frantically from sight to sight and do every fun activity offered, but you lose many of the other benefits of travel like immersing yourself in the daily life of the people, sitting in the sidewalk cafe slowly sipping your latte and observing the passers-by, standing in front of a great painting and soaking it in.

To get the most enjoyment out of a trip, sometimes we have to say, "Not this time...but I'll come here again!"  It's nice to know that Paris will still have new treasures to offer when I return some day.

Sometimes life goes that way, too.  We can hustle our way through the days, trying to accomplish everything we set out to do and running ourselves ragged, or we can prioritize and choose between the many happy options that life offers.

That happened to me this year as I tried to keep up with this year's Blog Challenge.  Maybe it is the fact that I just retired, and I haven't quite learned to organize my new-found time.  (In fact, I'm sure that played a part!  It has been so lovely to not have deadlines hanging over my head all the time, and chores that I used to have to do in a weekend can now take several days.)  So I have to say, "Not this time," and accept that I didn't meet the challenge this year - but look forward to giving it another go next year!  I do not at all regret starting the challenge.  I enjoyed the chance to look at my own travels in a new way.  Even more, I enjoyed getting to know my fellow bloggers through their wonderful posts.  Your posts have made me laugh and cry and feel very connected to all of you.  You have shared your inner thoughts, triumphs, and tragedies so beautifully.

I don't plan to stop my A to Z exploration.  More posts will be coming, and by the time our annual Blog Challenge starts next year, I should be finished with this round and ready to start the next!