Travel Reflections

As I sit by the open window this morning, sipping my Kona coffee, listening to and watching the waves of the Pacific Ocean softly kissing the shoreline of the island of Kauai, I am struck by reflections of our last six (very short) years of travel.

As I pause to contemplate our travels to 13 (foreign) countries so far, (China would make it 14, but I can't count that one here, 'cause my life partner Mr. C was not along for that one); and 6 out of 7 Continents;  the thing that stands out to me the most, with all the peoples of the world, is not our differences, but our similarities.  

Humanity is universally the same, at heart, the world over. 

We love, we laugh, we cry; we play as children and yearn for the freedom of adulthood. We work as adults and yearn for the freedom of childhood.  We worry about our loved ones; we worry about our children; we worry about our aging parents.

We struggle to make ends meet.  We struggle to make our fortune.  We struggle to make our fortune last.

We wish the best for our children.  We wish the best for each other in retirement.  We wish the best for our aging parents.  And we start all over again by wishing the best for our Grandbabies.

While all this takes many different forms in many different places all over this Mother Earth; the basic truth remains:  

We are all, each of us, all of us, human at heart.  We are universally imperfect.  We are universally wonderful.  

We love, we laugh, we cry.  

And we all live our lives to the best of our ability.