I started writing journals because my mom was a worrier.  If it was up to her I would call her every hour to put her mind at ease.  Well, if it was up to her I wouldn’t do bike trips at all.  But she raised a crazy daughter and knew it.

My compromise was a journal that I would update regularly.  I’m not sure she liked the idea, at least at the start, but it was the best I could do.  That was in 2009.

But now my mom is gone.  She died Christmas day 2019 at age 91, after a long life and 9 combine kids, grandkids and great grand kids.  My dad passed a year before that.  He wasn’t a worrier though.  Either that or he assumed I can fend for myself?  Instead he kept a map on the wall and populated it with push pins tracking my routes.

Either way this is my first post-parent tour and I secretly thought, “…it’s kind of strange.  Dare I say liberating?  I don’t need to worry that anyone is worrying about me.   Who will care if something bad happens?”

But then a strange thing happened.  Friends told me to be careful, to stay in touch so they know I am okay.  And it’s not just the friends I owe money to, its friends who I don’t owe any money at all.  They keep telling me to be careful and, “what’s the link to the journal so I can see how you are doing.”

I told one friend my post-parent secret thoughts.  “Well I care!” she said.

Sigh

I guess I need to be careful after all.  People still care.  Who knew?

In the end my mom got used to me touring and stopped worrying, she even liked reading about them.  And in the end I discovered I like keeping a journal.  People seem to like them, its made me part of a “touring community” and I have made a lot of new friends from all over the world because of it.

Thanks for worrying, Mom!