Mother’s Day/D-day

And we’re off!  Today, Mother’s Day 2014, is also our D-day.  (That’s “Departure” day in case you’re just tuning in.)  This is the day LP and I load our panniers on the bikes and begin our epic journey to cross the country and back in four months.  Whether or not we pedal the entire way has yet to be seen but even the small bit we do will be more than we did before.

It is coincidental and yet – in a way – appropriate that we leave on this particular holiday.  Because seven years ago a similar turning point occurred: I graduated from American University.

Graduation May 2007

The ceremony really didn’t mean much to me.  What that day really meant to me was that I was done with school – for a while – and could focus on being a mom to my Little Prince and everything that came with it.

This Mother’s Day I’m not really done with school, in fact I will be working on my thesis throughout our journey.  But, while the destination is important it is the journey that I have been most looking forward to.  This journey is a chance for me and LP to reconnect.  To leave the distractions behind and re-center ourselves.  LP will be learning about science, geography, and some history of both USA and Canada.  But more importantly, I hope he will learn a bit about journeys.  Life is a series of journeys and often the destination is far less important than the journey itself.

Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto

One of many shrines in Kyoto

In fact, I’m reminded of another journey I took during my first “technical” Mother’s Day.  Mother’s Day 2006 I was in Kyoto, Japan and about six months pregnant.  It had been my dream since I was 8 years old to go to Japan and when I finally had the opportunity even a pregnancy wouldn’t stop me from fulfilling that dream.  And, actually, I feel as though my time in Japan was enriched by pregnancy rather than hindered. Because I saw a part of Japanese society that few foreign students do.  I became intimately aware of and knowledgable about the healthcare system and specifically their prenatal care.  Which, I have to admit was amazing.  But the spirituality of the country was also impossible to avoid.  Shintoism is in the culture so deeply that it is nearly impossible to separate and proliferation of temples and history inspires the imagination and stirs the soul.

Back then there were people who thought I was crazy as well, and actually they still do when they learn of this particular journey.  But this is what I wish to pass on: don’t let anyone or anything stand between you and your dreams.  The more audacious the better.  The greater the obstacles, the greater the reward.  And when you are afraid and uncomfortable, you are on the right track.  People don’t learn from comfort, they don’t grow in what they already know.  People grow in places of discomfort, in places of challenge.  And that is what dreaming and reaching for those dreams does: it enriches us and makes us stronger.  LP and I may not bike all the way across the country, but we will have tried and that is the whole point: to try.

To my own amazing Mother: you tried, you believed, and you loved.  And you’re still doing that because you never stopped being a mother and I love so much for it!  Happy Mother’s Day, I hope we can spend the next one together.