photo courtesy of Barbara Staggs
Yesterday would have been my Grandmother’s 97th birthday. Without her realizing it, she became one of my biggest travel inspirations. She’s been gone for nearly 12 years, but I still think about her all the time, especially when traveling.
She lost her husband to cancer in 1976, when she was only 60 years old. Once she retired from teaching, she spent the remainder of her life being an amazing Grandparent and a world traveler. She never remarried. A couple of years before she passed away I asked her why. She told me my Grandfather was the love of her life.
Her Barcelona guidebook in Spanish (she spoke and taught Spanish).
I have a wonderful collection of travel guides and postcards she saved. It’s been amazing to discover all of the places she traveled that I wasn’t aware of. I remember her coming back from Athens, Greece and Madrid, Spain, but I didn’t know she had been to Paris, France.
Since she loved Spain so much, I thought she might have visited Portugal, but until I discovered her plethora of Lisbon postcards (so many!) I wasn’t sure.
This book about Gaudi has me a bit perplexed because it’s in French! She was 100% Latina and spoke fluent Spanish, but did she also speak French? It’s possible. I wish she was here so we could chat all about it.
I’m grateful that I got to explore the world through her travels as a child and that I have made travel an integral part of my life as an adult. I know she’s with me when I travel and sometimes she even sends me little signs.
photo credit: Carlos Jackson