Life is Too Short

I read this (below) in the New York Times daily (now three times weekly) COVID newsletter. It seemed a fitting way to “celebrate” the two year anniversary on March 11 for when The WHO proclaimed COVID a global pandemic. I don’t know Cree, but I hope she would be ok with me sharing this here. It also seemed kind of fitting as we wrap up three weeks in France.

We had a similar, though not at all the same, epiphany on the heels of losing our third parent many years ago. It was actually the impetus for us mapping our plans to travel the world, quitting our jobs and starting this travel experience and blog. Life is short. Get out there. Whatever or wherever your “there” is.

Of course, after two years of pandemic and now a three-week-old unnecessary and atrocious war against a sovereign country by an antidemocratic dictator, this feeling of the brevity of our time on this planet is all the more reinforced.

“My father died in October 2019. In February 2020, I made a plan to honor his love of France and my love for him by walking solo from Le Havre hundreds of miles southward to the Mediterranean. I bought the plane ticket in 2020, canceled and rebought it many times. I’ve kept my body ready for the journey for two years by running and doing several solo hikes. My French is much better than it was in 2020 as I’ve trained while listening to French language podcasts. Now, finally, I’m embarking on this journey. A ziplock of my father’s ashes are tucked in my backpack. I’ll scatter them on French soil when I arrive at just the right spot, somewhere he might have loved, if he could still share a picnic with me.” — Cree LeFavour, Provincetown, Mass.