A quote: “We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” ~~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I’ll start with a story …

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The 1990s, the week before school was out for the summer. All my friends were excitedly sharing the exotic locales where their families would go on vacation. Pam’s family was doing three weeks traveling through France, Rick’s was staying in Florence, Italy, while Patty topped them with a four-week Mediterranean cruise.

I got the pity stare because they knew my family.

It wasn’t just the frugality – I mean I had four other siblings and hauling this bunch to pebbly beaches of southern France wasn’t in the budget.

Mom and dad had other plans.

It wasn’t easy in a culture of credit, tech and loads of leisure time to remember how people without any of it lived. Our family summers were about wilderness. As far back as I could remember, it was everything about living off the land – hunting, fishing, making/breaking campsites, navigation by stars – think Scouting on steroids. I loved it, I hated it. I didn’t realize my parents had a handle on a future I could never imagine.

As my grandchildren come up from the lake with a good catch for dinner, I whisper a prayer for the places I never visited with my friends. Places not there anymore.

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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license.