“we might return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life enhancing thoughts.....”

— ALAIN DE BOTTON

One of my earliest memories of a child is standing in the El Paso airport waving good-bye to my grandfather who traveled for work. This was pre 9-11 and you could actually wait with your loved ones at the gate. I watched him walk down the jet bridge until I couldn't see him anymore. My grandma would want to leave but I would wait and watch the plane pull away from the jetway and fly into the sky. We could leave when the tiny dot in my sight disappeared completely. He would bring me a doll back from every single trip he took. I will never forget my first doll. The store ran out of the girls so it was a boy--a cabbage patch doll named Charlie according to his birth certificate. My passion for adventure began right then and there and these trips and the world seemed like such a fascinating place and I could not wait to explore every inch of it.