The passport I currently hold was issued ten years ago, 2016. For some reason, that doesn't seem like so long ago, but look at what has happened in those 10 years: the first fascist POTUS's term, Covid, Covid vaccine, uprising in terrorism across the globe, the death of George Floyd and its repercussions and the BLM movement, the rapid advance of AI, Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the overturn of Roe v Wade, the war in Ukraine, the death of Robert Redford, California on fire, the second POTUS fascist regime and so much more.
But some positive things took place as well: advances for LBTGQ rights, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series after 108 year drought, Wordle was invented. So was Taylor Swift. California got out of a drought, the James Webb Telescope was launched and sent back amazing photos of deep space, and maybe some other things that have been eclipsed by the evil that is taking over the world right now.
But back to my 2016 passport. Sadly, this passport was hardly used. I have many other passports that documented my adventures with entry stamps, visas, exit stamps. This current one shows me going to France twice in ten years, and for those two journeys I am so grateful and had so much fun. And I went to Denmark, to Copenhagen! Almost forgot about that, which is silly because I had such a great time in Copenhagen and might go back just to support the Danish people in their adamant refusal to relinquish Greenland to the fascist POOP.
As I think about it, other things happened in the past ten years to me personally that are not noted on my passport or in the history of the times: I witnessed and survived the devastating fires of 2017 that wiped out an entire neighborhood 2 miles from where I lived at that moment; both of my knees have been replaced with new, fake knees; I took a solo road trip through the south, meaning Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and was made richer by that trip; my daughter married her amazing wife; seven dogs that I loved died and I mourned them all, especially my beloved Cooper; for the first (and possibly the only) time I officiated at a wonderful wedding; I was fired from two jobs and hired for a third; I saw Bruce Springsteen live (!), I moved into my current abode, a tiny cottage on a large property that I love...... and so much more.
So it isn't true that a passport defines one's travels. It can document the foreign excursions, but that's about all. Everything else, the memories, the pain and the joy of everyday life, the movies we see, the books we read, the hugs and kisses and broken hearts we experience, those are all ours. We hold those. Those are our true travels, whether here or abroad.
Hold them close. Life is mercurial. Memories can hold joy and happiness, and those are good.
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