Good Earth

GoodEarth_3140, originally uploaded by carolsLittleWorld.

There have been times in my life when I stood up, looked around, and thought to myself (sometimes aloud even) “am I really seeing this? Am I really here?” It’s kind of like a surreal moment, frozen in time and place, for me to remember from my lifetime. As we face the dawn of a new year, I sometimes stop and think about those moments. Did I really just see that? Was I standing right there? Did I actually live through that? Did I really go there? To that place? The world seems like an infinite universe yet so very small and contained all at the same time.

When I was young, I used to go to the shores of the sea in New York, where I grew up and gaze upon the water. I would wonder what it was like on the other shores of that water, that very same water. Would people in England or places afar, even places unknown to me then, gaze upon these very same waves? The water touches all and changes all. At that time, as a young girl, I never thought it possible, I never dreamed that I would one day happen upon those places where that water touched. I never thought I would leave that environment. I never imagined me stepping out of my own little bubble. Places like the Grand Canal of Venice, Abby Road in London, or this place, here, in Iceland? Yeah, these kind of places might as well never even existed for me, since they were just as real as characters trapped in the pages of a story or points in the universe we can only dream about but never really experience. They might as well not even exist, for they were so unreal to me, unreachable, unimaginable. Oh how times (and people!) change. I never imagined, not even in my wildest of wild dreams that I would one day get to see some of those places firsthand, get to explore that ground, get to experience that particular charm with my own two feet. Dr. Seuss has a great quote about “Oh! The places you’ll go!” If I had only listened to him back then, but, alas, even I would not believe the places I would eventually get to go.

One thing that always dawns upon me, as I travel and explore, and am lucky enough to get to shoot, is that we have a good earth. We have a wonderful, marvelous earth with many sights, sounds, experiences and people on it. It’s glorious. And that glory can be found in everyday things, like a quiet sunset, in divine things like the great cathedrals of Europe, and in natural things, like these humble icebergs in Iceland. Yes, I’d have to say that’s one thing I’ve learned through travel. The earth, it would appear is really very good.

Today I took one of those “Which 100 of these [odd] places have you seen” type of tests. My answer was only about 20 or so of them. Yes, I still have a lot to see, a lot more. I’ve seen enough to know that there’s a lot more out there, and I really want to see more of it. I hope I get to see more of it. But then, I remember too, how there are people in New York, people who lived near where I lived as a child who have never left that place. They gaze upon the water, as I did when I was a child, and maybe don’t even bother to wonder what’s on the other side of those waves. They’ll never experience the Grand Canal of Venice or the suburbs of Mexico City or the White Cliffs of Dover. They think Atlantic City is maybe even a bit far away. I have to say that, as compared to those people, why I feel quite lucky. I’m lucky and blessed to know the travel that I have enjoyed, to have seen the places that I have seen already, even if tomorrow fails to bring more opportunities for travel to points afar.

We have a good earth, indeed we do. I intend to see as much of it as I possibly can. I love to travel, yes, as part of my job is to help bring those places to you, even if you are one of those people who never stop and think about what’s on the other side of that sea, where those waves eventually wash ashore yet again. Even if you never leave your living room, I hope to instill upon you the smallest of notions-the notion that the earth is good, it’s really very good.

It’s a very good earth, that it is. I hope you’ll agree with me about that. It’s really a very good earth, even if we are only a small part of it.

Until next time…