For the past 6 months, Chris has been working towards qualification for an event that would bring him across a large part of France on his bike. He did an equivalent distance in Texas just a couple of weeks back and he made it home with a hearty yee haaa. After some thought, he started to ask himself why he would want to do the same distance in a foreign county, sleeping in ditches on the side of the road with 6000 French cyclist that hadn’t showered in a week. By finishing Texas, the mystique of doing the French ride was lost because had already conquered the distance. For months, Kate had been imagining a stroll under the Eiffel Tower in a newly acquired beret. She scowled at her dad like only a preteen can, as he explained his change of plans. We reconsidered thinking that with his two weeks off, we could stay home, pull weeds and do the usual stuff. Chris and I always have distinctly different vacation ideas. He wants to be spinning like Julie Andrews on mountaintops, while I want expose intangible beauty via peeling paint and decay among stormy skies. This morning, he hands me an IPad, opened to VRBO, a vacation rental site and says, "pick a place”. I close my eyes, take a leap of faith and touch my index finger to the map of the world. As they open, a 15th century castle in Ireland is illuminated in front of me. One knows never to mess with the prophesy of the Magic 8 Ball or the wisdom of VRBO. I look at him with a smile and say, “Here, this is where I want to go.” Within an hour, we had heard back from the castle keeper, booked 4 tickets on Air Lingus and subsequently found a race that Chris could enter (no surprise there). Somehow I was confident that there would be a road that Chris could explore that would be so beautiful, it would stay with him. Kate could read Harry Potter in a real castle. Pete could run in endless green fields and I could create images where the scenery would speak to me in ways that I hadn’t been spoken to before. I feel recharged just thinking about it. Doesn’t it makes you wonder if you close your eyes, where you may end up? I double dare you.
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