Innocents Abroad (with all due apologies to Mr. Twain)

Greetings, all! It's been a long, long time since I visited my website. I'd love to tell you that it was because I was being incredibly efficient and prolific in my writing, but that would be a lie. Or, maybe I was so busy traveling that I didn't have the time to spend writing a blog. That would be a lie as well. How about because I"ve been too busy with major projects, or I've been Ill. Nope...

Truth be told, I haven't been writing on my blog simply out of laziness. Yep. Too lazy to go through the process of figuring out how to access the website, figure out the sign-in and password, and come up with anything to say. You see, I suffer from imposter syndrome. I may have written a nearly 400-page novel, and some short stories, but I don't believe that I've earned the title of "Writer" yet. I mean, Steven King sits and writes 1 or 2 thousand words a day, six days a week! He's so disciplined! I tried to write 1,000 words a day when we had a French Quarter apartment for six months last year. It kind of worked, I got 40k words on the second book of French Quarter Saints, but after we left the apartment and spent the summer traveling to grandkids' high school graduations, and going to Northern Saskatchewan to visit friends, and chores, naps, etc., etc. nary another word. Anyway, I hope to live long enough to earn the title of writer, but time will tell.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have done some writing lately. Almost all of it has been in the form of short stories. I've written several, and have been fortunate enough to read some of my work at events sponsored by a brilliant, local New Orleans' writer's group called Third Lantern Lit. I can't participate in the group's gatherings as much as I'd like due to the amount of travel back and forth, but if you live in New Orleans, and you write, I'd recommend them as a friendly and supportive bunch.

So, all that way around Robin Hood's barn leads me to the reason for this particular entry of my blog and explains the title as well. I'm going to attempt to chronicle a long voyage and adventure that my wife, my sister and I are embarking on. With everything that's been happening... economic upheaval, political crazyness, and even the most horrible European war that's happened in 80 years, we've decided to do a grand tour of Western Europe,

Some of you may question the wisdom of taking this voyage at this time. It's not an unreasonable question to ask. Xenophobia seems to be rearing its ugly head here in America, and I suspect elsewhere as well. Daily headlines highlight ugliness and unkindness. An unsettling uncertainty now appears part of our daily lives. So...why now???

It's very simple. We believe that it is important to demonstrate our strong belief that we are all human beings living together for a surprisingly short time on our lovely and amazing earth. We believe that learning about different cultures in our world is an amazing opportunity to expand our knowledge and experience and enrich our lives. We hope to demonstrate to those that we meet on our journey that America, and American culture, is welcoming and respectful of all.

Not that we see ourselves as ambassadors of our country, but as interested participants in our shared world. We should never forget that we are all inhabitants of the earth and each of us has a right to respect and dignity, and each of us also has a responsibility to treat others with kindness. What does kindness cost, truly???

So, somewhere in the fog of my mind there's an idea that there may be in interesting story in our 100 day voyage across the Atlantic and through parts of Western Europe. Whether it is or not will be proved in the telling. It is my intention to document our adventures and present them in this blog. If I succeed in doing so, and if I believe it is more interesting than telling how good the food was in San Sebastian, or how good a poop I had on the train between Marseilles and Rome, then I intend to collect the various entries and create a book. It will be a tale of three Americans, 69, 71, and 72 years old, and their adventures sailing across the Atlantic, traveling through Western Europe, and sailing back over a period of 100 days. I'd title it, "There and Back Agan", but that's already been taken. Fingers crossed, here we go!