in honor of Mother’s Day–and because reading all the mom-centric stuff around the blogosphere has got me thinking about her–I’ll be posting about my mother all week.
This piece was inspired by Mara’s post about what her mother taught her about travel.
What did my mother teach me about travel?
On first consideration it would be easy to say “not much”. My parents divorced when I was young, and my mother didn’t have much money or time to take us on exotic adventures. Anywhere we went had to be navigable, round-trip, within a weekend, because my mom ran an in-home daycare and couldn’t take weekdays off. We didn’t go on vacations to either coast. We didn’t have a cabin on the lake. The only reason we even made it into Canada was that we lived about five miles from the border, and the shopping was better there on the occasion we needed something beyond JCPenney or KMart. I was fourteen years old before I made it out of the Midwest, and every trip that took me further than a Great Lake state was with my dad.
But even though she didn’t physically take me on many trips, my mom taught me a lot about the way I experience travel today.
First of all, whether it was through the music we watched, the books we read or the movies we watched, Mom seemed to make a point of opening up the world to us. I knew that there were many places outside my realm that were fascinating, exciting and worth visiting….even if I couldn’t do it right away.
Second, she made a point of exploring what was available to us in our small city in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula. Whether we were blueberry picking in the woods, skipping stones on Lake Superior or watching freighters roll by on the St. Mary’s River, she took pleasure in the small details…the kind that are available to anyone in any town, no matter how small or unglamorous or remote.
One of my favorite things to do as a traveler (and travel writer) is discover the undiscovered. That diner with the fantastic pancakes in a sleepy small town. Or a quiet beach off the beaten path. The simplest things often bring the most pleasure, and often they’re right under our noses. That’s what my mom taught me about travel: you don’t have to go thousands of miles away to find something worth discovering. History and art and culture, natural wonders…it’s all there for the finding, no matter where you are.
Come to think of it, I guess my mom taught me quite a bit about travel. How about yours?
You grew up on the UP? You lucky girl!
I sure did. Sault Ste. Marie (though I was born in Munising and lived there until I was 3 or so). We left the area when I was 12 and though I don’t think I could live there now, there are definitely things I miss about it.
[...] finally, I’d like to direct your attention to a post on Meagan Francis’ blog about what her mother taught her about travel. Meagan is a great writer; I only recently discovered [...]
Too many people don’t see what’s in front of them. Travel is not ticking items off a list. The true enjoyment is exactly what your mother taught you. Here are some of mine:
Taking the time to find out more.
People watching on a park bench, museum steps or pavement cafe.
Hiking up into the hills.
Discovering flowers, orchids and wild animals. The smells of honeysuckle and the countryside.
Taking the time to watch the sun go down after a hot Summers Day.
Finding the right stones and skimming them on a lake or calm seashore.
I’m of course honored to have inspired you Meagan. And I very much endorse your philosophy on travel - to me travel is as much a mindset as it is an action. I consider day trips to be just as important as longer journeys, and hope that I can excite my children just as much with trips to local museums as those we take to Paris.
I’ve been thinking about this, and I think that one unintentional gift that mothers who can’t be continually present (for whatever reason, good or bad) give us also is a sense of independence and courage. I know that having to face the world as a child without continual adult intervention has definitely given me similar courage to explore it as an adult - with and without my kids.
What a lovely post! I hope that I can inspire my children in a similar way. With three kids, we can’t afford the grand intercontinental vacations our neighbors are taking, but we can enjoy offbeat moments during our road trips and day trips. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to reading more.
Nice piece, I do a lot of writing about vacation beaches, funny though, the ones that are special to me are the ones close by, not necessarily across the continent.