I Miss...

I have been many amazing places in my 19 years of life. I’ve been lucky enough, blessed enough, to travel so many jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring places. My travels have made me into the person I am today, and continue to shape who I will become. I won’t tell you that all this travel has been detrimental to me in any way- you wouldn’t believe me, and I would sound like a spoiled brat. Plus, it’s just not true. I wouldn’t trade my experiences and the places I’ve been for anything else in the world. Even if you told me I could have a magical sparkly unicorn with a horn made out of rainbow jolly ranchers named Major Awesome Sparkles, I still wouldn’t trade you.

not even for this.

Now let me tell you something you might not know. My dad- he misses people, and places. He, above anyone else in our family, will call you when he’s away on a business trip to say he misses you. Nothing else, just that: “I miss you.”

Though the rest of us kinda give him a hard time about it, I think I would miss his “I miss you”s if he ever stopped saying it. It’s a small constant in my life that I appreciate more than I’ll probably ever even realize.

And I think I’ve inherited part of this from him, though mine’s perhaps a little different. It seems like every new place I visit, I grow attached to. I take a part of that experience and that particular land with me when I leave, and I keep it with me. Gah, I know that sounds corny and romance-novel ish, but it’s the truth. Wherever I go, I can’t help but get attached. And then when I leave, I miss wherever I’ve been.

who wouldn't miss a place like this?

Sometimes I’ll flip through photos, or even just page through the memories stored in my noggin, and I’ll think “gosh, I’ve gotta go back there someday…” And it’s kind of a catch-22, because the more places I go, the more new places I want to see, and then, too, the more places I want to return to.

I promise you this isn’t me whining about how I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to so many amazing places. Far from it- I can only hope I will continue to be so lucky. I just wish I could win the lottery so I could afford to return to those places that hold the little bits of my wandering soul.