Inside: “Stop putting your dreams on hold” is a phrase we hear quite often, but do we take action on it? No, not usually. We wait until the perfect timing. Well, now is the time to live in the moment and enjoy life!
Does your significant other have a famous phrase?
My husband has a famous phrase, “If you’re serious about something, you’ll make it happen.” The first time he said that to me was when we started dating. He moved to another state to finish his graduate coursework, and can you guess when that phrase was born? It was time to live in the moment and enjoy life!
“If you’re serious about us, then you’ll make it happen.” What that meant was doing the 10-hour drive to visit him. OK, fine, if that’s what it’s going to take. I was serious about us, and I did make it happen! I even got to use that phrase on him, but it was a little bit easier since he could also visit family when he came home.
It was time to live in the moment and enjoy life!
Fast forward to our wedding. “If you’re serious about something, you’ll make it happen,” echoed in my mind. I always envisioned myself getting married in a nontraditional way, like a destination wedding. The lava cliffs in Hawaii would do! I was serious about it, and I did make it happen! We had a wonderful time with our close family and went on to enjoy a weddingmoon around the islands!
Something happened when we returned home. It was inevitable that something was going to happen.
We got bit by the travel bug!
We’ve taken our fair share of vacations with our families throughout our childhood. However, the defining moment came one day when we were talking about school assemblies. Random, I know!
“There was this guy named Randy Nadler that would visit my school and teach us about different countries. He even had pictures to show us on slides with this clicker!” I told my husband one night at dinner. “No way, I know Randy Nadler, and he came to my school, too!” We spent the entire evening talking about the places we learned about and how we’d love to travel around the world someday. ✮ Side note: I searched for Randy Nadler as I was typing this and squealed to see that he has a website and is still visiting schools…sorry, my 90’s childhood geeked out a bit here!
The seed had been planted.
We started a list of places that we wanted to visit, but noticed that we’d now have to get a passport! OK, fine. You know by now, if I was serious enough about it, then I’d make it happen.
I did. We did. Passports-check!
The rabbit hole was open, and we were being sucked in.
I can’t tell you how many times I received an email or phone call from my husband about a flash sale or discounted fare at random times throughout the day. “Can you take off work on these dates?” he’d ask.
“Sure, I guess so; let me work on that and find a sub.” That’s the Catch-22 here. I have to do all the sub prep things before these said trips! Oof! Luckily, most of these trips overlapped with a school break or in the summer. <insert motto>
Our first vacation as a married couple was to the Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. Not too far away, but enough to ramp up our travel.
Soon, traveling to Hawaii and the Caribbean just would not cut it.
The rabbit hole had taken control once again!
We ventured to the Bahamas. Then Turks and Caicos, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Martin, St. Barths, Saba…most of the Caribbean!
And then something else happened. We started planning our next trip while on our trip. We would spend late nights in our hotel room researching destinations, writing down flight numbers, and sometimes even booking those flights!
I quickly came up with a phrase of my own.
“I teach to travel so I can bring my experiences back into the classroom.” That is exactly what I was doing. Year after year, I would tell my students about my pre-trip and then my post-trip. I would even text a few pictures to my sweet substitutes, and they would show my students on the spot! I saw how much joy we were all getting from this! It sounded so simple, and it became something we enjoyed in our day.
Students cleaned up faster, got supplies out without reminders, and listened intently to my stories. I was essentially combining our daily reading or writing daily lesson with my trip! The curriculum now had a new spark! Their lives were becoming enriched, and my heart was full of so much joy!
I loved getting out maps, pictures, books, additional research; you name it! Our learning was endless!
We are living in the moment and enjoying life!
I entered a new rabbit hole, but this one was the BEST of all!
I was teaching my students about the world. About cultures. About life outside our classroom walls.
I had become my own version of Randy Nadler without even knowing it!
A seed has been planted…for the next generation!
Explore. Travel. Read. Repeat.
