when we were in our late twenties, my husband and i read a book called your money or your life by vicki robin and joe dominguez. the book is a little dated now, but is still a thought provoking book worth reading. one of my favorite ideas in the book, that we still refer to twenty years later, is the idea of “enoughing.” in other words, not searching for more all the time. just searching for enough. the other theme of the book that has stuck with me over the decades is vicki and joe’s take on vacations. they posit that if your day-to-day life is truly authentic, and fulfilling, then there is no need to vacate it. vacations become unnecessary. it’s a fascinating idea. steve and i talk about it to this day. i think that we have concluded that we mostly agree with them, but that travel, as distinct from vacation, is its own separate reward. not an escape, but a deepening of experience. travel fills a different well than either daily life or the pure escape of vacation. that is not to say that, as i look forward to two or three more months of minnesota winter, i would turn down a hinano beer on a white shell beach in tahiti right now with any of you.

shells from the gulf of mexico and the mediterranean