Halfway to Canada

When I was little we used to talk about digging our way through the earth, getting halfway to China.  Here I am, in Taiwan, which is halfway to my childhood home.  We've got 14 more flight hours and then we're there.  To get rid of any pent up energy from the first leg of the trip, and to stretch my legs a little, I plugged into my mp3 and walked the store corridor.   It's a long stretch of expensive, beyond-my-finances and beyond-my-need stores, people movers, and high-priced snack bars, and nothing really caught my eye enough to make me stop.  While I was walking, the Eagles' 'Desperado' came on and I had a major flashback to my teenage past.  Memories of sitting in front of a campfire along a lake somewhere, sometimes roasting marshmallows and usually watching the stars, blasted my thoughts and made my heart skip a beat.  Over the years whenever a group of us got together for the evening or to camp for the night, someone always provided music, and Desperado is one of those 'summer songs' that whisks me back to those nights.  As an aside, I remember camping across from our place at Sproat Lake in a spot that we could only reach by boat.  Wouldn't you know it, the people I was with brought the usual necessities like tents and food, but what I remember most about that trip is the generator, stereo and 2 HUGE speakers that they plugged in smack-dab in the middle of nature.  I kind of liked it!  Probably those across the lake weren't so thrilled, but it sure made a good memory for me.

Who would have thought, in the 1980s, that 20-something years later I'd be walking the halls of a Taiwanese airport, on my way home for a visit, and that I'd be living in a foreign country like Indonesia?  Life sure takes some interesting turns, and gives us some challenges and opportunities to stretch.  I must say, I've been stretched over the last 3 years, but overall, I am extremely thankful.  I am so excited to be heading home that I feel like an 8 year old waiting for Christmas morning to arrive.  Only 14 more hours and we land on sweet Canadian soil.

Thanks for reading.