“We’ll do something fun for our 20th anniversary,” my husband told me, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and that trip (to St. Lucia) also got postponed. We ended up taking that trip later, but changed it to the U.S. Virgin Islands and took our kids (who were in high school then) for a spring break trip. It was fun, and we even bumped into author Elin Hilderbrand on a day trip to St. John. We helped send both our kids to Europe while they were in high school on trips with their classmates, even though neither of us had ever been yet.
But during this whole time, I worked non-stop. I’ve always taken on freelance work because I have that “feast or famine” mentality and don’t want to turn away any assignments. I love what I do, and the opportunities the industry has brought me. I love the podcast I’ve created, even if it doesn’t bring in a steady income, and try to adhere to weekly publishing deadlines. I’ve been on a hamster wheel for a while and in September, was forced to stop spinning on that wheel for 14 days.
Guess what? It was amazing and the world didn’t stop turning because I wasn’t writing or producing. This year we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and we finally decided we were going to take the big trip we’ve been talking about for years, an 11-day cruise with stops in Greece and Turkey. With both kids away at college, the only responsibility we had was our two dogs. We arranged for a pet sitter stay with them for the duration of the trip, and it was the adult son of a family friend so that set our mind at ease.
Our trip started in Athens, and we spent a few days exploring the city before getting on the cruise ship. It was our first time both in Europe and on a cruise, so we were anxious about every move we made at first. Once we got on the cruise ship, we had limited internet access so I couldn’t have worked even if I wanted to. Plus, we had planned excursions at almost every stop, so we were on the go almost the whole time if the boat wasn’t having a sea day. Along the way we visited the Parthenon in Athens, visited the mosques in Istanbul, shopped in Mykonos, took a sail on a catamaran around Santorini (and rode the cable cars from the top of the city) hiked up to the Temple of Athena in Rhodes, and much more. The weather was amazing, in fact, it only began raining as we boarded the plane home. We were able to text with our kids throughout the trip (taking the time difference into account) and check in with our pet sitter, but other than that, we were blissfully free of responsibilities.
We’ve since returned and will be talking about this trip for years. I’ve resumed working on my podcast, and am trying to find time to focus on other writing projects that have been on the backburner for a while. But this vacation provided fresh inspiration, and more than a few ideas for other blog posts and articles. It took me almost fifty years to get to the point where I could finally see that part of the world, but it was worth the expense and time away.
Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and creator/host of the podcast, Missing in the Carolinas. She also works part-time as a bookseller at an independent bookstore in North Carolina. Learn more at FinishedPages.com.
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