Heaven On My Mind...

Kamran (my husband) and I have done our share of world travels by plane in the past, but what we like about traveling in our Travato 59KL van now is: we can stop and go whenever we want, and see everything in between, we’re not stuck with check in/out times or loading and unloading luggage, and it’s actually cheaper than flying. The best thing van travel enabled us to do was complete our bucket list of visiting 50 US States (Hawaii by plane) and 9 Canadian provinces. Over a 14 month time frame, we took 8 separate road trips, traveling over 66,000 miles. Upon completion, I planned to post a blog of our favorite spots visited thus far. Ironically, as I sat down to compile that list, I was struck by the parallel running in my head of the circle of life issues I was simultaneously juggling, so I decided to redirect my thoughts a little.

During and between our travels, life went on. We moved my folks into a nursing home and cleared their house; Kamran had more cancer related treatments; My dad went into the hospital, then on hospice; Kam broke his knee in WA landing him in an ER, after which I drove him 3000 miles home for surgery; I ended up in a Maine ER due to sudden paralysis, loss of vision and speech...from a tick bite; Our 13 year old dog died; and sadly, my father ultimately passed away. Circle of Life.

You've likely had similar experiences of your own and let life issues or physical limitations hold you back from LIVING. Here’s the thing though...you make do. Using technology we stay connected and continue to manage my folks healthcare issues while traveling. Kam has chemo meds only accessible through specialty pharmacies, which we've had no problem finding on the road. In general, both Kam and I have medical issues that limit what we can do physically, and Kam actually spends a lot of time in the van. So, we don’t spend hours hiking or doing strenuous activities. Still, we experience so much of God’s creation in our own way, and our life and marriage is all the richer for it.

As I experience my circle of life issues, my thoughts do shift toward Heaven more. I envision my father up there reunited with his friends, soaking up sunshine and fresh mountain air. I picture our pup rejoined with our pups before him, running together in a field of green, scattered with flowers, and surrounded by crystal blue water. But, what jumps out in my mind the most, is a conversation Kam and I had about the afterlife while we were on the road. Surrounded by God’s beauty, Kam stated, “This is Heaven. We’re in it right now.”

Looking back at our photos and reminiscing about the things we’ve seen thus far, I'm reminded how true Kamran’s statement is. When I picture Heaven, it is the most beautiful of all of God’s creations, lumped into one place. We are ALL incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to share His beauty with one another right here, right now, while we are living. Life is so unpredictable and none of us really knows when our time might be up. With Kam having terminal cancer, we decided to get busy living.

I often wonder what life will be like without Kam, or whether I may end up going first, leaving him stumped trying to figure out all of the passwords without me, haha. What I do know, is when the time comes, our dream is to have our kids spread our ashes at Lake Louise (Banff AB Canada), which is our #1 fave (as of right now).

There's still so much more for us to see, so at some point I will post a complete favorites list. Without a doubt, I can safely say we are both partial to Western US and Canada, so we’ll be spending most of travels there from now on. God willing, we will be back on the road again soon, so stay tuned! In the meantime, we hope you all take the time to get out there and appreciate our “Heaven on Earth.” Here's a little taste...