“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” ~ Seneca

For several days, Eric and I have been discussing past trips we have taken, where we would like to go in the future and reminiscing about where we have already been. When the prompt for “What is your most memorable trip?” was seen, it seemed to segue into our conversation so naturally.

We have been to Montgomery, AL a couple of times. We traveled to Missouri, first to the Kansas City side and then over to St. Louis before heading home. We’ve been to Huntsville, AL several times and always enjoyed it. For food, Kansas City took the cake with Magianno’s Italian restaurant with a close second being “Blue Plate Cafe” in Huntsville. However, the most memorable trip has to be our first trip together: Montgomery, AL.

The occasion was Eric’s birthday. He planned a get-away for the two of us at the Renaissance Hotel. This was memorable for many reasons:

• It was our first time ALONE together without his daddy present, longer than a dinner out.
• It was our first time going to Mass together.
• We took time to just walk-and-roll around the area, looking at architecture, enjoying the views and talking about anything and everything under the sun, without interruptions.
• We laughed and laughed – at the one-man blues band that played until the wee hours of the night in the hotel’s outside lounge singing “the love has goooooone” to every dang tune he played, so loudly that we could clearly hear him on the 7th floor with the windows shut
• We enjoyed naps in the afternoon with no urgency to be anywhere
• It was Eric’s first time eating breakfast at “First Watch”
• We enjoyed sitting in the open-air lounge the second night, people watching and enjoying the music which was different (and better) than the blues the previous night.
• We got tickled at the little boy in church who yelled “Hey!” just as the priest was giving his homily about Zaccheus climbing a tree to try and see Jesus to get his attention.

This trip really gave us time to connect personally and learn more about each other. Shared beliefs, ideas and values became more pronounced. There was no rush to be anywhere, nothing was reserved or timed, we were able to relax and be our natural selves, unrestrained by work deadlines.