A Pool and a Pond.

I have an international following.  Well, I am not sure it's a following per se, but that this blogosphere allows you to view from where your readership hails is pretty cool. On the one hand, it's thrilling that I have found an audience in the United Kingdom, India, Rwanda, Thailand and Turkey in less than two weeks.  On the other, it pretty much only confirms what I already knew (and have already mentioned): My siblings lead fabulous lives.

My oldest sister's most recent blog entry describes her riding elephants in Thailand, replete with photos of said elephants and a pictorial that, by her own admission, is something akin to Out of Africa.  And then there's my brother who's currently enjoying a Nepalian spiritual journey that includes 5-Star Presidential suites, fabulous feasts and bonding with Monks over their mutual ease of hair care in Kathmandu.

Consider too that, thanks to the reliability of Facebook, I've recently learned my Aunt just enjoyed Carmen at the Sydney Opera House with a real horse bowing on stage and my cousin has been snorkeling with sea turtles in Riviera Maya. And oh, did I happen to mention that my other Aunt is on an epic Around the World cruise of a journey?  No.  No, I did not.

When you add in the historical data that my other sister spent a decade or more living in Tokyo, Frankfurt and London with side trips to, well…everywhere one would travel to and from such places, and that my own parents spent months of my young life traveling through the Caribbean, Europe and South America, it does leave me to wonder:  At what point was I diverted to the wrong lane in the pool? I refer, of course to the gene pool that has given almost every member of my family some sort of wanderlust of fabulous proportions.  It seems to have skipped right over me.  Even my own daughter leaves for Paris at the end of the week! As so aptly put by Chevy Chase to Bill Murray in Caddyshack, "We have a pool and a pond; the pond would be good for you."  Methinks I splash in the pond.

As someone who prefers the upside, however, the bottom line is that I have an international readership.  Now, if I could just find something to say…