Spring has finally come to Austria, and today is Easter…the promise of new life! I am also slowly getting back to my life, here in Vienna. It does feel like ages, but it has only been a few weeks that our life was so brutally thrown off track…

I really wasn’t sure if and when I was going to write again. But this afternoon, as I was resting on my couch after a lovely Easter dinner (I made roast lamb for the first time and it actually turned out right), and going through my favorite blogs, I came across a quote from Kahlil Gibran, via Superhero Journal:

“When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your head board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”

And that is how life really is, at least how my life has been, joy intertwined with sorrow. On April 1st, this sorrow was greater than ever before. My mom, my sister and I, had to say goodbye to our dad. The details are not relevant here, some called his suffering brief, I know it was intense. I don’t really have all the words to describe what happened, nor do I want to. It is sealed in my heart forever. What I can tell you is that dad went home, and I got to whisper to him drum bun, or bon voyage as he left us.

My father had many joys in life, as he did have sorrows. But he never dwelt on the sorrows, he lived for the joys. One of his many joys was travelling, especially in the last years. He was only truely happy once he was on a trip, be that in the mountains, a national park, or strolling through ancient European towns. There were many more things he wanted to see once he was retired….There were many things I wished to show him here in Austria. He is now travelling quite different worlds, and enjoying it just as much I’m sure.

As for myself, I will continue this travelling life, and I will write about our adventures, whether big or small. Sometimes we forget how short life really is, and we make lots of plans, for later, always for later. But the time to live and time to travel is NOW, there will never be a better time. So I am off into the green forest to enjoy the Spring!