I was by no means an easy child to raise.

For the first 16 years of my life, I especially lived up to my title as an Army “brat”.

 

Instead of seeing and imitating the refined and perfect qualities of my parents

(the determination and selflessness of my dad,

or the joy and zest that my mom has for life),

I fostered my own collection of yucky traits:

I was impatient,

and disrespectful,

and arrogant,

and, as my brother Erik would say, a “meanie”.

 

It was my personal goal to exercise these qualities on a regular basis.

 

My mom who, due to my dad’s traveling military career, often single-handedly raised myself and my 4 younger siblings tried earnestly to plant life lessons and bits of honest advice into our ever-wandering minds.

 

There is exactly one bit of advice that I remember my mom telling me time and time again:

 

“Travel before you settle down.”

 

Well Mom, despite the fact that I was a living, breathing, stuck-up headache for all those years, I listened.

And this was hands-down, one of the very best bits of advice you could’ve ever given me.

 

Thanks for harboring the curiosity and desire to learn about the world through experience, instead of a textbook.

Because, let’s be honest… I never read the textbooks anyways.

Textbooks are for nerds.

I digress.