Graduation and Travel 5.10.25

Another Trip – Italy, Greece and Turkey – May 10th

Elizabeth and I are about to embark on another adventure – this time to Southern Italy, Athens, the Greek Isles and Ephesus in Turkey. But first, we were in Chapel Hill to attend Carter’s graduation. He graduated yesterday with a Master’s Degree from UNC’s School of Information and Library Science. So, another Franklin joins the Tar Heel Community!

I want to take a moment to comment on how important it is to stay flexible and “roll with the punches” when traveling. When we headed down to Chapel Hill on Thursday, I got hit by a 36-hour intestinal virus. I felt awful. But I gritted through the UNC-NC State baseball game and dinner on Thursday and most of the graduation activities yesterday.

In the meantime, Davis, Carter’s older brother, drove all the way down from Charlottesville for the ceremony and then hit the road this morning at 4 a.m. so that he could attend his basketball team’s informal practice. What a brother…

When I woke up this morning I felt like a new person. I was so relieved to be feeling so much better on the day we were departing for Rome. Like many others, I take my normal health and energy for granted. But all it takes is something like I went through for the past day-and-a-half to give me an appreciation for my health and energy.

So, with renewed energy and finally, an appetite, we met Carter at an amazing Durham brunch spot, where we had an amazing meal.

And yet, another hick-up – American Airlines had cancelled our original flight from Richmond to Charlotte, which meant they put us on a flight that gave us a 35-minute layover, allowing us almost no time to change planes and catch our flight to Rome. After some negotiation, we were able to skip the Richmond leg entirely and drive straight from Chapel Hill to Charlotte and eliminate a connection altogether! Yes, we made some beautiful lemonade out of lemons. So, all seems to be coming together after all.

But I am reminded by a recent blog by Sean Dietrich in his blog “Sean of the South”, which, by the way, Elizabeth loves, that things do not always turn out well on trips. As a blogger, columnist, and novelist, Sean is known for his poignant, insightful, and often funny commentary on American life.

He decided to walk the entire 500 miles of the Camino from France to Santiago de Compostela with his wife and to write about it on his blog. Things were going great until mile 390, where he had to stop and discontinue due to severe leg swelling and complications. He felt aweful. Heartbreakingly, his wife went on without him. So, his dream of walking the entire Camino with his wife will not happen. However, knowing how Sean seems to see the world, he will treat this setback as a chance to grow even further.

So, as I sit here in the American Lounge in Charlotte, I know that adventures do not always turn out the way you think they will. But that is why they are called adventures. So, with lots of excitement and a little bit of anxiety, I look forward flying to Rome to begin another wonderful travel adventure with Lizzy, no matter what this new adventure has in store for us….