Travel Day to Europe is HERE!

Travel Day Has Arrived

I’d dreamed of this day for over a year! I couldn’t believe it was all in order and now I had awakened to the most fabulous day! The first thing I noticed was I felt like I heard a “pop” in my mouth. Like my jaw popped. That’s not what it was. It was a cap on one of my front teeth. Not one of the two in the middle. It was the one on the right, right beside my middle teeth. It was NOT fixable. I was left with a metal post hanging down in the place where the cap of a tooth had once been.

One of my worst nightmares realized on one of the biggest days of my life.  Just a background, but as a child I had TONS of strep throat events in a two year period and had been exposed to Tetracycline…over and over and over again. It had ruined my teeth. Little by little, the damage to my teeth has been experienced, to where I’m at the point I need a major overhaul on my teeth. It’s not from lack of brushing or taking care of them. It from the exposure to the drug many years ago. I’d had to have a root canal on this particular tooth when I was pregnant with my second child. And…now it was gone. If I smile openly, the gap is there.  I made the decision right then and there… I’m NOT my teeth. I’m NOT my inadequacies. I’m a worthy individual, even with a glaring gap in my teeth. I’m good enough even in spite of my deficiencies. I’m saving money for major dental work…and it’s not going to happen on travel day.

Point here…realize your worth is NOT in what you feel is an inadequacy. Your value as a person is internal not external.  That’s enough about my tooth. I told you I was going to share EVERYTHING that impacted me on this trip!

Vulnerability

I can’t continue this series without letting you know how I was feeling inside about the trip. I never had what I would say “fear” about the trip. About a week before the trip, I began to have a little struggle on the inside. The current state of our world is enough to give anyone pause. I’d be flying into a city (Paris)  where terrorist activity had killed 130 people only a few months prior (November 2015). I’d be flying into a city where only a few weeks ago, an airplane left the airport and the people aboard were never seen again. I’d be traveling to a train station in a city where only a few months prior had been prey to a terrorist attack bombing at their airport (Belgium). I silently wondered if when I left this country, would I see my family again.

Would I find myself involved in being in the right place at the wrong time were a terrorist acticity occur? I had to say, the reason or purpose for my trip outweighed any fear or thoughts of my own demise. What I purposed to do and learn outweighed the chance that I would face something devastating. I knew if something happened to me, it could never be said I allowed fear to keep me from doing something that could be life-changing by taking the chance. So now you know. I did think about my own mortality. I’m a woman of strong faith and relationship with God. By my own understanding, I’d still be OK, even if I no longer existed in this earthly vessel. I did phone all my kids before I left. Telling them how much I loved them. I also had that same love conversation with my mother and my husband. None of them knew the thoughts I had or why I was making sure I spoke to each of them before I left.

That’s all I’m sharing for this post. I’m back home. So, you all know I didn’t meet a demise at the hands of terrorists. I’m so enriched by this experience. The next blog post will be a bit more colorful. Yes. This is where the funny Becky Bloomfield stories of the Shopaholic series starts. It started the moment this diva stepped out into foreign soil.

Love you and and thanks for reading and following along with me on this journey. It’s not really about me…for me it’s about sharing my story and inspiring your to create yours.

I’d love to hear from you! Leave me a comment below and let me know a little about you!

PS… I’ve got about 14 more posts to write in this series… Each day was so full, and SO many beautiful pics I’ll be including! Be sure to check back for new articles over the next few days!

Here is the next post. Stress Free Diva Goes to Europe: Departure and Arrival.

Be Well,

Joyce