Great Big Beautiful World

We don’t have to leave home to see the great big beautiful world. No one does.

The beautiful world embraces us: The landscapes we live in, the skies overhead, and right at our feet, in the royal purple winter crocuses that peek above the frozen soil here in the Pacific Northwest.

The sun and moon rise and set every day in sometimes-stunning shows, free to all, wherever our feet are planted on this glorious earthly globe. So why does everyone get amped up about snapping the perfect photo of a sunset while on a cruise, myself included? It’s not like we haven’t seen one before, but it’s suddenly magical when we’re on a journey.

One obvious reason: Travel frees us from the myriad distractions of our responsibilities. Early each morning when I fetch the newspaper in the driveway, the same rangy patch of neglected yard gets my attention: I really need to get to that soon, I think, while walking right past the gorgeous profusion of blooms on the winter hellebore.

So we don’t have to travel to the ends of the earth to see amazing sights, but it helps.

And then there are the treasures tucked away in far-off countries and museums around the world. We really do need a passport if we want to appreciate such marvels personally.

Sure, we can check out world treasures online, but it just isn’t the same as seeing Michelangelo’s Pieta in St. Peter’s Basilica from a few feet away, or standing right in front of the prehistoric Gundestrup Cauldron in Denmark’s National Musuem. The facial features are depicted so perfectly on the cauldron that art teachers use it to teach portraiture. If this face winked at me, I would have winked back, it was that real. And absolutely exquisite.

In the presence of such beauty, I feel thankful and awed and absolutely thrilled, all at the same time.

I like feeling that way, especially thankful.

So we travel.