Goodbye Carlsbad, NM, last stop Marble Falls, Texas. Wow. This is it, our last leg before leaving the country. So much excitement and planning over the last 4 months and now, here we are heading to Texas 4 days from departure. When Jacob and I first started making plans for our round-the-world journey, I immediately had a need to see my 92 year old grandma in Texas before we left. She is my mother’s mother and last living grandparent. My grandma has been such a loving presence in my life. I remember always feeling so excited to go visit Grandma and Padaddy and see my other family that lives in the area. I love the smell of the earthy mesquite and humidity of the Marble Falls area which is located about 45 miles NW of Austin in what is known as the Hill Country.
My grandma has macular degeneration and she has been slowly losing her eyesight over the last several years. Thinking of her living alone in her garden level condo, climbing the steep stairs to go about her business concerns me. However, being with her over those 4 days and watching her move about her space, I was amazed at her agility and energy. She knows where everything is and can recognize “dark blobs” of things that are out of place. She does not appear to have difficulty asking for help when she needs it. I felt so connected to her as we sat at her dining room table chatting while I divvied out her daily medications into zip lock baggies so she could grab one a day and always take the right stuff. I am truly amazed at her health. All but one pill of her daily meds, are vitamins. She has great dental health and has all her “original knees and hips”.
The four days flew by and the realization that our true journey was about to begin filled me with nervous, excited energy as well as feeling a little bit crazed to tie up last minute loose ends. Now, sitting at our cabina in Costa Rica, which has amazingly great internet, I realize that aside from spraying our clothes with Permethrin, most of those ends could have been tied up here. Jacob, the research guru, discovered Permethrin
Aside from time spent one on one with my grandma, we enjoyed lake/river time hosted by my uncles and aunts at their homes on the shores. The girls blissfully played in
the sand at the Llano River. 
They sang songs with smiles and sunglasses on their faces as their hair blew back on the boat ride on lake LBJ. We found out that our girls need some spicy-food-tolerance training. They panted and complained at both of the dinners we had with my family while my cousin’s 15 month old daughter shoveled it in with vigor.
We said our goodbyes and received the love and blessings from my Hill Country family and went on our way to Houston. We left after dinner to allow the girls to sleep through another long drive. Sleep they did, as soon as the car started moving. 
My cousin and her husband were very generous to let us use their town home as a landing spot in Houston despite being away on their own international trip to New Zealand. The girls splashed, giggled and sang in the bubbles created by the jet tub. Later that day I picked up my mom at the airport. Several months ago, she offered to drive our Subaru back to Colorado for us after her own visit with the Texas family. 
The girls were so excited to see their Omi and together we explored “The Heights” in Houston and had dinner and a beer at Barnaby’s. Great fun.
We feel so loved by our family and grateful to have been able to spend our last days in the U.S. surrounded by them as well as feel their love as they send us off with many blessings.
I am currently reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. My sister recommended it to me when I told her the news of our dream of traveling the world. This quote is from the part in the story where the main character “the boy” is learning to listen to his heart. It stands out to me so profoundly as begin our world journey:
(The boy’s heart speaks to him)’ “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren’t, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because when these things happen, we suffer terribly.”
“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.” ‘
May we all follow our dreams, whatever they may be…
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