Exploration
Question:
What are some places that you’ve traveled to, and have those places inspired your writing?
Answer:
I love to travel but there’s no place like home! As I sit by my cozy fire and look out at the frozen world outside, I’m reminded of the words that Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, “there’s no place like home!” I love spending time with family and friends in places that are cozy and comfortable. Most of my ideas come when I’m relaxed in the comforts of my own home and in my own town. With that being said, I have traveled to several continents, and I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with many wonderful people in a wide variety of settings- people whose life experiences are extremely different from my own. I’ve gotten to see some pretty exotic places, and I plan to spend this summer on an island in the Mediterranean Sea! The very thought of it makes me laugh because I grew up poor, and I never imagined that my life would turn out to be so rich!
Question:
Name some of those places you’ve traveled and tell us some stories from your experiences!
Answer:
As a kid living near the Canadian border, my first trip out of the country was of course to Canada. I regularly crossed the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, NY with family and friends to see an amusement park called Crystal Beach. Though I had lots of fun times there, I also had a near death experience there on a crazy ride called the Wild Mouse when I was a teenager. Thankfully I rode the ride with a very strong muscle man from high school who saved my life! With a sudden jerk, I flew up and landed on my stomach on the side of the car with my hands dangling near the track. He responded instantly and lifted me back into the car. Some better memories of Canada include riding the enormous Ferris Wheel at Maple Leaf Village, viewing Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, and visiting Montreal. My favorite place to visit was Quebec because it’s a walled fortress. I got to see most of the city by bicycle and enjoyed that very much. My one disappointment was that I didn’t get to speak with many people because of the language barrier.
When my kids were teens, our family took a mission trip to the island of Grenada and experienced the summer heat of the Carribean Islands. There was no air conditioning, and we got to live like the locals. There were wild cows and wild dogs roaming around, all emaciated looking, and my funniest memory was trying to sleep on an unbalanced queen sized air mattress which sat on top of a twin sized bed. My husband and I kept rolling into the center and crashing into one another! We couldn’t go back to sleep because there was a mysterious sound outside our bedroom window. When my husband shined his flashlight outside, we saw the culprit, a skinny cow chewing grass. It was extremely uncomfortable there with no air conditioning, no window screens and so many bugs! The people were extremely friendly though, and I will never forget their warm hospitality. The one thing that stands out in my memory is how large the families were inside such tiny houses. Walking down the dirt road, I recall hearing lots of children’s laughter. Life was so simple there.
Believe it or not, my husband and I got to spend three weeks traveling around China. We got to climb the Great Wall, see some magical looking places in the Himalayas, stay in Shanghai, take a train to Beijing and a flight to Xian to meet the farmer who discovered the Terracotta soldiers! To this day, that trip feels like a dream!
We traveled to Kiev, Ukraine and got to see all the sites of the revolution and hear people’s stories. Seeing the pictures of lost loved ones lining the streets reminded me of the memorials set up in NYC after 911, which we also had a chance to see in person. I was very inspired by the grit and determination that I saw among the people there. Knowing that many of the beautiful churches and places we saw in Ukraine have been damaged by the war breaks my heart. The images I see on the nightly news, with damaged buildings covered in gray ashes, also reminds me of the tragedy of 911. Regardless of the differences in cultures, languages, and traditions, we are all so similar when it comes to the painful sorrows of war.
We got to see old castles in Prague and visit the beautiful city of Vienna. Those places reminded me of the drastic differences in living conditions among people throughout history and of the importance of being content in whatever circumstance I find myself in. In Hungary, we experienced a heatwave without air conditioning in the place we stayed and found some temporary relief in an ice bar, where everything inside was frozen. The timer was set and after finding temporary relief we returned to the sweltering heat. There’s a lot of history in beautiful European cities but like the heat wave, some of it was forged in the fires of war and revolution with only brief times of temporary relief.
In Africa, I got to zipline near Victoria Falls and go on a lion Safari. I stayed at a beautiful resort but experienced genuine thirst for the first time in my life when we were left without bottled water and the kitchen was locked. As I sat on the bed under the mosquito net I found it difficult to swallow; morning couldn’t come soon enough! Also in Africa, I learned the importance of not taking pictures of pick up trucks filled with armed men with machine guns. Life is very different across the globe! The sweetest people I met in Africa were a group of women in Zimbabwe; I will never forget their kindness. One young man there told me that I reminded him of his grandmother who was always telling him stories that were entertaining yet filled with moral lessons. I thanked him for the generous compliment and gave him a big bear hug! As I read African tales to my students, I am reminded of the many generations of storytellers that used their stories to build character in the next generation, and that is exactly what I hope to do with my own stories.
I do believe that these experiences and the people that I met in my travels may influence my stories somewhere down the line, but home is where my heart is, and that is where I am most comfortable when I am writing.
Question:
Everyone has a bucket list, if you had only one choice of a place to travel, where would you go?
Answer:
I’d love to spend a summer in Ireland! I’ve never been there, and I want to walk the same roads that my ancestors walked and meet my cousins there! We’ve had generations of family members that chose to stay in Ireland, and I’d love to hear their stories. I want to stand in the churches where my grandparents were baptized and climb the mountains that looked down upon generations of family members that lived and died on the land by the lake. Like most of the places I travel, I don’t want to spend my time in touristy areas; I want to spend time where people live and work and raise their families. Years ago during some very troubling times in Belfast, my sister Maureen took a little girl named Sinead in for the summer- she became like family to us, and I’d love to see her again! She’s all grown up with a beautiful family of her own now and my sister always tells me about the fun phone calls they have together at wee hours in the morning laughing hardily together. That’s what inspires me most- the stunning island and the kindred souls! The children of Belfast, Catholic and Protestant, were caught in the crossfire of bitterness and war. Though trauma always leaves some scars, the children showed remarkable resilience and strength. The very thought of Sinead’s laughter makes me smile.