Patti Part Two — Patti Part Two

Belated Christmas wishes and Happy New Year! Today is one of my favorite days of the year, and at its most basic level it might just be because I love having a brand new calendar in front of me. And yes I do mean an old school paper calendar/planner.

I just returned from my last trip of my amazing “Gap” year, and what an incredible year it has been. It exceeded my expectations and as I reflect on all I got to see and do this year I am overwhelmed at my good fortune. My goal was to travel about half of the time, and when I totaled up my travel it came to 165 days which is 45% of the year. I couldn’t have done this without my absolutely wonderful friends and family. Family and friends that traveled with me and/or hosted me in their homes all over the country. My goal was to cover the four corners of the US and places in between, and explore a number of areas outside of our borders - mission accomplished! Here’s a quick recap:

January - Southern California, Lake Geneva Wi and Chicago

February - Cancun, Florida (both coasts)

March - San Antonio for the Final 4

April To May - Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia

June - Seattle, Portland and Bend, Oregon

July - Chicago and Lake Geneva, WI

August - New York City

October - Minneapolis, Chicago and LaSalle-Peru (my hometown)

October To November - India

December - Tampa FL, Dublin, Paris, Vienna and Salzburg

I got to spend time with Tom, Keeley, Matt and Anna - all together twice this year, and multiple times with one couple or the other. I got to see each of my brothers and their spouses three times this year, and connect with so many wonderful friends around the country. I can’t thank you all enough for helping make this year one I will never forget.

Speaking of my kids they are doing great. Tom is still enjoying New York City and has a wonderful girlfriend Anna that we all really love. Keeley and Matt moved to Chicago in May, and are both enjoying the city and their new jobs. Selfishly I love having them closer and it’s one of the reasons I have been in Chicago so many times this year.

When I think back to my 20 year old self and the plans I had for my life I am surprised at how different my life and my journey have been. It’s a different life but no less wonderful. I’ve gotten to do things that I never even dreamed were possible, and I’m not done yet!

Instead of resolutions every year I like to pick a theme for my year. I try to make it one word - this past year it was “Just Do It” which is clearly not one word - but it fit my goals and I loved it. This year my theme is Silence. What that means to me is to slow down a bit. I am the kind of person that when my feet hit the floor every morning I am off and running - sometimes literally. I love checking things off my massive to-do list and rarely even sit down to watch TV. I saw a quote from Buddha that inspired me.

“Silence is an empty space. Space is the home of the awakened mind.”

So I’m going to start with 10 minutes a day where I will just sit and be quiet and just see what fills that space. And yes it is on my to-do list so I will take great pleasure in checking it off everyday😊

My theme 2 years ago was Read, and that has given me great pleasure. The public library has become a good friend to me. My goal this year was 30 books and I exceeded that by 5, so I guess I set my goal too low. My top 3 favorite books were -

“Before We Were Yours” by Lisa Wingate

”Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts

“Summer Wives” by Beatriz Williams

I loved them all but “Shantaram” is an epic novel set in India, and was really insiteful for me to have a better understanding of the people of India prior to taking my trip there in the fall.

I’m looking forward to spending a little more time in KC this year. The last three months of 2018 I was gone most of the time and frankly I’m a little tired. Well I returned yesterday so it might in fact just be jet lag. Still so many places I want to see, or go back and see again! Like Austria! I just returned from Vienna and Salzburg and I will be getting around to writing about them in detail soon. We were there for Christmas and right up until New Years. There was an abundance of pig and mushroom items visible, so I did a little research and found out that in Austria the 🐷 and 🍄 are considered to be good luck, much like the 🍀 in Ireland. So I bought this adorable mug to bring home and hope it brings me all good things in 2019! Wishing you all the same!