Travels with Pa

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to travel around the world. No one in my family traveled, so the seed must have been planted by Jules Verne. After college I hitchhiked across the U.S. and Canada, later spending six months in Central America. Family life brought other, albeit shorter journeys - South America, Europe, Jordan, Palestine, even China and Japan. But not since those early days of hitchhiking and riding the rails, with no one to care for but myself, had I been truly alone in the world, free of agendas and obligations. Turning seventy brought an urgency: the window of opportunity was narrowing. Bedtimes were earlier, naps more frequent. One eye needed surgery, one ear an aid. And then there was the whisper: "If not now, then when?"