What makes a traveler?

My Mother made a traveler of me, and it was her birthday yesterday. She seems to age backwards. Benjamin Button’s got nothing on her. In honor of her birthday and because I only got to wish her Happy Birthday over an in-and-out Skype call from Jordan, I thought I’d share this little excerpt from a summer 2009 post and a video I just made for her:

…“It was my Mother who made a traveler out of me, not so much because of the places where she went as because of her yearning to go.” My own Mother went to travel agent school when I was a kid just to learn how to get better deals. I remember her standing in our kitchen talking on the phone, the long curly cord stretched all the way out across the 1970s goldenrod wallpaper and olive green appliances. She beamed as she asked the airline reservationist if an open jaw fare to TPA would be a better deal than flying back into SRQ. She learned the lingo of travel and away we went across Europe and the South, to places she’d read about in Gourmet and Southern Living. So, like Mary Morris, it was my Mother who made a traveler out of me. I have loved to plan and embark on adventures my whole life. For a while there I’d forgotten.

My adventures are making my Mother’s true traveler nature emerge with remarkable frequency and force. She visits a lot. I received this email from her out of the blue yesterday, under the subject line, “Thought from Mom”:

I have been checking frequent flier into Nice thinking I could get to Gordes for lavender and R & R but it takes 170,000+ miles so not possible.

I have a ticket in and out of Milan on hold until the 31st of July. It is a 6+ hour drive from Lugano to Provence as best I can tell and a train ride is about the same.

So-because I have a window between Aug 6-17 I am thinking maybe four or five days at the Serbelloni would be what the doc ordered? I have emailed them about an apt and will see what the response is. Mufasa probably would like to take a trip!

And so it goes with my Mom. Here are a bunch of reasons I love her:

And for your further viewing entertainment I offer once again her Tarasp, Switzerland 2008 Julie Andrews a la The Sound of Music routine (be sure to catch the dog at the end… hunting rodents?):