Home, One Year Later – Carrying the Journey Forward
The Story
From February through April of 2024, I traveled around the world while Dave was deployed. Nine countries. Twenty-two cities. Sixty-five days. At the time, I knew it was special, but I didn’t yet realize how deeply it would shape me.
Over the past year, and as I’ve revisited each stop through writing, I’ve realized the journey never really ended. The lessons from Cambodia’s waterfalls, Thailand’s beaches, Pakistan’s quiet days, Croatia’s mountaintops, Germany’s fairytale villages, Luxembourg’s hidden charms, France’s eclairs, the grandeur of The Netherlands, and Belgium’s unfinished chapter—each one has continued to ripple into my everyday life.
The Reflection
Travel has a way of teaching you twice. Once in the moment, and again when you look back. In the moment, you’re swept up in wonder, fatigue, delight, and discomfort. Later, with time and distance, you see the patterns: courage gained, humility learned, connection deepened, curiosity sparked.
I came home with piles of laundry, sore feet, and an overflowing heart. But a year later, what I carry most are the intangibles:
Courage to say yes, even when it feels uncomfortable.
Connection that anchors me through separation and change.
Curiosity that keeps me open to the unexpected.
Gratitude that turns even ordinary days into gifts.
And here’s something I’ve learned in the process of writing this series: making time for reflection matters. We rush so quickly into “what’s next” that we often forget to pause and notice what we’ve gained. This series has reminded me that meaning is found not just in living experiences, but in revisiting them—turning them over, holding them up to the light, and allowing them to teach us again.
The Lesson
The lesson of coming home is this: the real souvenirs of travel are the truths we carry forward. But we only hold onto them if we make space to reflect. Reflection turns experiences into wisdom.
Beyond Travel
You don’t have to fly around the world to practice this. Life offers waterfalls and mountaintops, eclairs and unfinished chapters, right where you are. The invitation is to notice them, and then to pause—to carve out the time to reflect, to journal, to share, to let those moments sink deeper. Without reflection, experiences fade. With it, they transform.
One Year Later
A year later, I am home—but also still traveling. Not across oceans, but into new seasons of life. The journey continues in different ways, shaped by what I learned when I circled the globe and what I’ve continued to learn in reflecting on it.
A Question for You
Where in your life could you make space for reflection? What lessons might be waiting for you in the experiences you’ve already lived, if you took the time to unpack them?
