Oh, The Places We Will Go...

Growing up I never had the pleasure of experiencing family vacations or travels. Money was stretched thin and I can only count a handful of memories in which my parents took my brother, sister, and I anywhere that could have remotely been construed for a family vacation. I was always envious of those beautiful and perfect families that always went on a spring break vacation to a sandy beach and were able to spend time together in new exciting places. Before meeting my husband I had continued this streak on into my adult life, having had little experience with traveling and going on new adventures. In my previous relationship my ex boyfriend and I had been on a couple vacations with friends, but I honestly don't remember them as clearly as I remember every trip that I have spent with my husband. Now that could be due to time passing and my memory not being as sharp, but I think it is mostly because I was not enjoying myself as fully as I do experiencing new things with Charlie.

Through the short amount of time that Charlie and I have been together (2 and a half years), he has opened my eyes and heart up to the beautiful world that we live in. Exploring new places together pushes our relationship to new heights and each time we go on a new adventure we are able to grow in our understanding of each other as well as enhance our marriage. Traveling has made our lives richer, fuller, and brighter. It has become our escape from the stress of our everyday lives and allows us to connect in ways that I had never imagined possible. Each new experience not only teaches us something new about our relationship, but it opens me up to learning more about myself too.

The thing that I love the most about these travels is that we are always able to find new things to do in the area that we live. Our schedules are hectic and our finances are tight, but we make the most out of the situation and take small day trips that grant us those new and exciting experiences that we crave. We have been on a couple of big trips together, one of them being our honeymoon of course, but I have to say that I almost enjoy our day travels the most as we explore life right outside our front door. I never knew that there were so many cool and exciting places to visit that have always been within a couple of hours driving distance.

I have mentioned before how I have also found a new passion for photography and my love for photography stems from my fondness of traveling. Traveling and photography go hand in hand and it's easy to fall in love with taking photos if you have beautiful landscapes to photograph. I don't plan on making a career out of it and I don't need or want a fancy camera, I mostly just love to capture the memories. I like to be able to look at those pretty pictures I took and remember the experience. I love to fill the walls of our home with our memories and beautiful life that we are living together.

"Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world (written by Gustave Flaubert)." Until my eyes were opened to the beautiful world around me, I was completely blind to how small I was. This world is a huge place and I am just one person, each new travel and experience humbles me. I am able to look at life in ways that I had never been able to before. I have become to realize the importance of love and family and to let go of the stresses of yesterday. Everyday is a new day and should be lived to it's fullest. I feel blessed to have what I have and to be able to indulge in these new experiences.

Living in Indiana, it can be hard to enjoy the outdoors since the weather is so unpredictable. It seems like lately whenever there is a nice and warm day either Charlie is working or I am sleeping recovering from a night shift from the night before. There isn't a ton of things to do in the winter time and if there is anything going on, let's just be honest and say no one really enjoys venturing out in the cold and snow. However, we make it work and between the two of us we are always researching new and exciting events, activities, or locations to scout out together.

Traveling has opened me up, teaches me new things about myself that I never knew before, and continues to evolve my marriage. I hope to share with you these experiences that we have had together and introduce you to these new locales or events so that you may one day experience them for yourself. So stay tuned for more blog posts about things to do in Indiana, my self realization, marriage trials and errors, and my journey to finding myself.