It's my Birthday
It’s my birthday and I am off celebrating in Colorado.
I hope by the time my actual birth “day” is here, I’ve created some epic photos in Colorado. That’s one of my goals for this trip.
I took this photo on my birthday 2 years ago. It’s one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken. It’s one of my favorite locations to photograph dogs. It’s just outside of Vancouver British Columbia with this gorgeous mountain range in the background.
Because this a BIG birthday for me.
It’s my 60th birthday and well, I can’t believe I am 60.
A few months ago, I was really struggling with this but now I’m doing better. I’ve wrapped my head around this number.
After all, it is only a number.
But the reality is, I am old. And I don’t mean that so everyone will say “you’re not old” or give me some other words of encouragement. (Although words of encouragement as always welcome.)
I say it because there are still things I want to accomplish. There are still lots of places I want to go.
The past few years I have started traveling more. This is something I wish I’d started doing sooner.
I love to travel. I love to see new places.
I’d love to leave the heat and humidity in Charlotte during the summers and visit places that have cooler weather. I’d love to be gone from June - August. Maybe I could rent a house in Alaska for a month and then maybe in Montana for a month and somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe I could take Jeff with me (but that’s A LOT of driving and I learned some things about traveling with Jeff when I took him to the NC mountains in June.)
Here are some of the goals I have yet to fulfill:
I want to photograph a dog in every state. I still need to do this in a lot of states: Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma (I think, I need to double check this one), Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Hawaii.
Like I said, the list is LONG! I’ve been to most of these states but I’ve not photographed a dog in them.
I want to visit Norway. My great great grandparents were born in Norway. Growing up my mom and aunt would always bake Norwegian cookies at Christmas.
I want to visit Yellowstone.
There is a long list of bands and singer/songwriters that I want to see live in concert. This is one of the reasons why I went to see Kelsea Ballerini in concert in Ohio in February. That’s why Ohio isn’t on the list above! 2 birds 1 stone
London and Scotland are also on this list and that will happen next month!
I feel a sense of urgency. My back aches pretty much all the time. I was just diagnosed with arthritis in my right thumb.
While I still can travel, I want to. While I still feel like I can. Maybe one day I won’t be able to or I just won’t want to.
But for now, I’m going to buy the dang ticket!