If you’re asking yourself “where do I want to travel next” instead of “where is my next meal coming from”, then, like us, you have an awful lot to be thankful about. Neither of our families travelled much when we were younger, which is probably the main reason that sharing travel experiences with our children was so important to us when the kids were younger. Now that we’re older and are fortunate enough to be in a position to travel, we often think back to the days when we struggled to take time off, let alone go anyplace for vacation.  We’ve come a long way from the days when we worried about getting food on the table, but we’re well aware that life can change in a heartbeat, so we never want to forget how far we’ve come.

With the hectic day-to-day life as well as planning another trip, it is easy to forget how blessed we are to have the opportunity to see the places that we have.  We often see other posts from sites that we enjoy and think to ourselves, “wow, I wish we could go there”.  It is easy to get caught up in travel envy instead of simply being thankful for the experiences that you have been able to have.  More importantly, for the opportunity to share those experiences with the ones that you love.

We recently purchased a digital picture frame where we’ve loaded pictures from places that we’ve travelled, concerts that we’ve been to, and special occasions and holidays with family.  It was really eye-opening to see all of those memories in a single place.  It really gave us the opportunity to look back and think about how fortunate we truly have been.  And that only includes the places we’ve seen since we entered the digital age, there are still photo albums filled with pictures yet to be scanned and added to the library.

Hopefully we’ll do a better job throughout the year of being thankful for our opportunities.  It is easy to be thankful during the holiday season when it is forefront on people’s minds, but it is something that we want to remember the whole year-long.  Hopefully next year will provide as many travel opportunities for you as we hope to have for ourselves.  We truly are a lucky couple.