A Note to my Son on Travelling

I've been told I should take you to Disneyland. Or Sea World. Or Legoland. But I refuse to dumb-down the world for you.

The world is sometimes harsh, but I think you can handle it. The world is big and beautiful, it is in constant creation, it is pulsing and blooming with things that you have not yet imagined. But I know one day you will imagine a world no one else has. Pack light so you have room on the way to collect some things from your journeys. Stop and talk to people often. Be adventurous. Don't worry to much about the bugs.

I picked you when you were still unknown to me. I chose to be your mentor. That is not an easy path because I cannot know what coming world to prepare you for. So, this is what I choose - to surround you with people who live in a different time, younger and older, who have different experiences and different ideas. I have surrounded you with people who have left their homes to make new one's elsewhere so that you will have an example of how it is done.


I brought you up so far in this safe, little village so that you can know the value of home and family and a big comfortable bed. A small place where you can feel competent, secure and in control. A known. Because soon enough you will be heading out into a world that is not yet. An unknown.

Some journey's are shared. What would our world be like if our friends had not shared theirs with us? Less beautiful, less colorful, less like life. I'm going now to help my friends on their journey and one day you will too. You will tell their children what some distant, exotic place is like. They will be able to help their children grow because they have watched you scout ahead.

Remember to support your friends on their adventures, even if they chose to go to Disneyland.

I will scout ahead for you now and peer as closely as I can into the potential future. Just remember, if, sometimes, I am not with you, it is not because I don't love you. It is because some journey's must be taken alone.