I always thought it was important to take my child everywhere even when they were very little. I wanted to expose them to everything and teach them from an early age how to behave and enjoy new experiences. Those experiences included traveling with my children, but for some reason I didn’t travel out of the country with them until they were at least six. As a French teacher, I traveled often to France with students or family because I needed to immerse myself to improve my la

“I think about death a lot.” I told Sarah. Maybe this is dark, but “sometimes I become hyperaware of our mortality. One day I will no longer live in this world, so I am so grateful whenever I get to see one more thing before I go.” I do not mean this in a morbid way. It is more matter-of-fact with a touch of poetry. Sarah and I spent our last fifteen minutes in Budapest reflecting in front of the Parliament building while I sipped my lactose-free latte. We were waiting for

Another fall from grace. I dread getting blindsided by suffering…any suffering! Even the kind where you smack your little toe against furniture. It unsettles every bone in my body as I go from cloud 9 to somewhere near the end of a black hole in the galaxy. I have not yet established the same kind of support system I have in the U.S. So when any sort of emotional crisis occurs (and this is only my second one, mind you) I am often unable to reach loved ones because of time dif