I make lists. I list the things I need to remember to do, I list the items I need to buy and I list my dreams and goals. Sometimes the lists in my head keep me awake at night and sometimes I?m frantic when I lose a list scrawled in almost indecipherable writing on a scrap of paper.
My list of places to visit is changing. It was once topped by exotic locations including Egypt and Mexican regions now carrying travel advisories. Last week I went to a place on my Canadian list. Both my provincial and national lists are growing.
I still want to see the world, but at this point I?d rather spend my money in this country and spend more time visiting and seeing new places than riding on an airplane. I spend more time wishing for more time than I wish for more money. I dream of the day when I will be able to escape for a couple of weeks in a row and have a driving vacation similar to what we enjoyed as a family when I was a child.
Last week I got on a plane in Edmonton and after only an hour and a half I was in Yellowknife, a place so different from here and yet so familiar to me. It was on my list and is still there. I loved it.
Almost every time I visit a new Canadian region I find something I want to return to. When I cross the country I feel I am an ambassador for Saskatchewan hoping to share a bit of our province?s spirit with the people I meet.
I love the connections people have to my home province and how small the world can be when names are recognized and places shared. Some of my favourite places to go are right here in Saskatchewan and I find our very own region welcoming and wonderful. I travel afar to see new things but know there are historical cairns by the side of the road just a few miles from our community that I have never read.
There are stories everywhere and beauty in every place I have ever visited.
I love this time of year as the school year begins to come to a close and I get a chance to go on field trips and take out the maps planning the routes to summer weddings, festivals and shows, knowing I will fall in love again with the sights and sounds, the smells and tastes of the beautiful world right here in my own backyard.
