Rhymes with Phuket (November 16, 2025)
I guess it all comes down to your pronunciation and where you place your emphasis.
Said another way, I had what was supposed to be a lazy day today when I realized I had “fallen behind” on a few things. Specifically the gallery section of this website. Just pictures. No big deal, right? Well, ever since Elena has joined our party, I began focusing on the blog and putting off the grouping of pictures by city or country. No big deal, right? I mean, the pictures have already been uploaded, right?
Today, I updated pictures from Switzerland, Italy, Greece & Japan
The thing is, I’ve taken way, way too many pictures. I know this. The hard part is not in the taking of the pictures, but in the editing of them. Choosing what to keep and what to throw away is why editors make the big bucks — in literature, film and everything they touch.
I’ve been out of New York now for 140 days (20 full weeks now) and coming up on 5 months. So true, not quite half a year, but still the longest I’ve ever been way from what I call “home.” It’s been amazing having Violet and Elena join me for this part of the trip. In fact, without them I don’t think I would have lasted this long.
But I saw this first thing this morning and thought, yes, this is what I want my day to be like:
This looks like how I wanted my Sunday to feel today
And why not? A lazy Sunday? Perfect. It started just like the day I had in mind. Elena and I got up around 7am (about as late as we can sleep when we are “determined” to sleep in ;-)
Elena called her sister Nancy back in Bend, Oregon where it was the ripe old time of 4pm — a great time to have a chat. After a nice long chat, we walked to Poached and had a wonderful breakfast — one of the best, in fact.
Came home and decided for our last FULL day in Phuket (tomorrow), we’d go back to the waterslide park we loved so much. Why not? This has been such a relaxing week, we can get up early, enjoy the water park to ourselves again for the first hour and have a wonderful day.
So Far, So Good, Right?
And then, it hit me that I’d uploaded an awful lot of pictures since September 22nd when Violet and I left Barcelona to travel to Geneva, Switzerland and stay with my cousin, Brent McLean (see related post). That’s when it started. About 2 months ago, I began focusing on my blog and stopped grouping photos together. Simple and innocent enough, but hundreds upon hundreds of photos later, it’s become quite a big job just to set up:
That’s it. That’s all I did. 5 countries grouping pictures together from September 22nd until today (November 16th). Did I upload any new photographs? No. Did I create something spectacular in the way I grouped these pictures? No.
What took so (damn) long is that there are several hundred pictures already uploaded to Squarespace (where I’m hosting this site) and even just selecting 200 or so pictures to highlight the time in each of these countries means sifting through hundreds of pictures that are NOT from say, Switzerland (or the other 4 countries your organizing).
The REAL Value of Time
And this is when I really “get it.” That cat can lay in that chair all day because he has zero responsibilities today. When he gets hungry, he’ll meow at the door to let his owner know he’s ready to be fed (and maybe do that to a few fellow neighbors if he has a good racket going like our pet Leo did for quite awhile before we figured out why he gained so much weight).
This is why Violet can sleep until 3pm on a day that we’re not going scuba diving or back to the waterslide park. Or why Elena watches me in disbelief with the loving teasing comment of, “Boy, I’m so glad that I don’t have a giant pain-in-the-ass homework assignment to document my trip around the world. I’d hate keeping a blog!”
So why do it? Really? At first, I wanted to share what I was up to. So many people asking me about my trip around the world, I was excited to share what I was doing, how I was doing it and all the insights I was learning along the way. THEN I got excited by the doors it was opening as coaches from around the world open their doors and allowed me to stay one or multiple nights with them in their homes — experiencing their life and their country the way they experienced it.
Today it’s something different.
Today, I realize that my memory is terrible. When I was younger I could remember so many things and hold them in my mind. Not so much these days. The longer the days are between events, the less likely I am to really remember them. I don’t “hold on” to things like I once did. I suppose that’s part of aging and growing up. True, I’m more present, but also true that I don’t remember things as well as I once did.
52 countries in as many weeks. Think about how much of that would simply blend together if I didn’t take the time to record what happened. Even now, I’m not as painstaking as I could be. There are parts I’m leaving out — some because it’s not important. Other because it’s not worth remembering. Still others because I haven’t figured out the lessons I’m meant to learn and share as part of the experience I’m having. In other words, I’m still “in it” so I’m not able to “share it” just yet.
What I do know is that this is a new routine that has helped me these past 140 days. I’ve always journaled a few sentences each day and that hasn’t stopped. If anything, I’ve taken the time to dig into the importance of each day just a little bit more so that I can remember how I spent each day out in the world. Some for me to remember and others for me to share with those who are interested in my journey.
And so that’s why I took the time I had today to organize all the pictures I’d been neglecting these past few months. I’d very much like to remember through pictures, not just words, the experiences I’ve had as I’ve traveled the world.
So many places. So many experiences. So many opportunities for growth and expansion. I am truly loving this year abroad. The best part is that I haven’t had to spend it alone. I’ve had the opportunity to be with some of the people I love and ones who love me back.
Reflecting on our wonderful scuba dive trip yesterday together.
