This little story is one I wrote in response to an on-going travel urge by someone I know. I hope it does not come to this.
To Travel
by
Paul L. Ellars
“So, my little darling, where would you like to take me this year?” Jacki asked.
“I don’t know. Where would you like to go?” Paul replied looking down at the floor.
“Somewhere we’ve never been before?” she said. This was a scene played out very often with hope on her side and sadness and despair on his. He had no money to take her traveling and traveling was the one thing she had not done much of in her life. He was an Army brat and grew up traveling back and forth across this country and all of Europe. And now that she was approaching retirement age she was passionate about traveling before she lost the energy and desire to do so. Each passing year home seemed more comfortable. “It is just so expensive to go anywhere and I’ve not made the money I was hoping I would.” he thought to himself.
Another year has passed.
“So, my little darling, where would you like to take me this year?” Jacki asked.
“I don’t know. Where would you like to go?” Paul replied and, like last year, looked down at the floor. He knew they would not go anywhere and it made him sad. Jacki never complained. She had a bright and cheery smile and always said the money would show up somehow and they would travel then. He always gave her a sad smile and nodded his head.
A few more years passed. They both aged and began to slow down. Their energy was gone. Home had become too comfortable. They went nowhere yet still talked about traveling somewhere, anywhere.
A few more years passed and her health began to deteriorate. She still talked about traveling and still had a bright and cheery smile and always said the money would show up somehow and they would travel then. And he gave another sad smile and a nod of the head.
The following year she died. She never did get to travel while alive and it was his biggest regret. If only he had money.
He found a crematorium he could afford and afterwards took her ashes back to their home.
That evening he made copies of his favorite photo of her and one of them together. Below the photos he wrote: This is my late wife Jacki; it was always her passion to travel but we did not have the money. Please take the enclosed ashes you’ll find in the envelope and take them to ___________ and cast them to the wind. Thank you.
And so he put a spoon or two of her ashes in an envelope along with a copy of his favorite photo of her and the one of them together. Then he filled in the blank line with the local landmark or historical site.
That evening he mailed out three envelopes. He sent her to Iolani Palace in Honolulu, the Great Pyramids of Egypt and Machu Picchu in Peru. The following night he sent out another three envelopes; one to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, one to Buckingham Palace in London and one to Heidelberg Castle in Germany. Sometimes a tear would roll down his cheek and land either on the copy of the photos or on her ashes. Each night for the next few months, until her ashes we all gone, all except for some he kept in a small glass vase he placed on the mantel, he would send her to a far-off corner of the globe.
And so, in his own way, he was making it possible for her to travel.
