Keeping in Touch. The girls have been so much better at keeping in touch. They “snap chat” and text and tweet (lpd only). I am old school. I make phone calls from time to time and Skype only slightly more often. Neither are very satisfying to me. I prefer the touch of a friend’s hand on my shoulder as we walk and talk and the eye contact that lets me see if they are ok, or really hurting, excited or just pretending to be. We call home on birthdays and check in occasionally but generally, I am outside. The girls have kept a foot inside. It may be that one approach proves better on our return. We’ll see.

Knowing. Traveling in a bubble/separated from normal routine is good for getting to know our girls well – their obsession with 5SOS and 1D, wattpad’s incomplete and often poorly written books; their twitter identities; their snapchat photos; early formulation of college choices and career plans. Their nascent views on life and death, on being Jewish and likely atheist, on meaninglessness and mindfulness. Their growing minds and bodies. It is also a gift that they are getting to know us. Our strengths and frailties are more apparent to them and they develop the ability to accept us for who we are – not just as parents but as people. It’s a maturity of relationship that will hopefully save them (us) from years of therapy. 🙂

Globalization. Everywhere we go we are seeing the same shops – LUSH, Body Shop, Jo Malone, L’Occitaine or Gucci, Hermes, LV, Chanel, Prada, GAP, H&M, Forever 21, Brandy Melville, Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie, Hugo Boss, Armani, Zegna…Uniqlo in Asia has just opened in Berlin and Rome. This is true not just with clothing but with also with food (Starbucks, KFC, Dunkin’, McD, Coca Cola, Nestle’s packaged foods). Globalization has its benefits – standardized sizes and availability of trusted brands. The result though is that we risk losing our diversity. What will make Brussels different from Brisbane? Bangkok from Berlin? Are we nearing the end of history? (Fukuyama) Or will the pendulum swing back to embrace individualization once more?

Comparing. And. I have always liked this word. Genesis AND the Big Bang. One needn’t chose one over another or rank everything in life. This harkens back to the post on The Question we posted in February. We find time and again that people we meet ask us to rank or chose or pick the highlight moment of any particular trip or experience. Maybe it’s just part of human nature or maybe it’s a behavior we are learning in this data driven world. And maybe we could just let things unfold more slowly knowing that, while some places are immediately impactful, others percolate and we will find them impactful at some later date for reasons not yet known. For now I’m trying to let things percolate…