Watching them stretch their wings and fly off!

My youngest son is headed off on his big adventure. He’s completed his degree at university and not ready to begin work, has chosen to travel. In many ways he is following the route his older brother took. However there is a marked difference.
While his older brother managed to travel through high school travel opportunities, Adam did not take part in those activities. His farthest travel has taken him only across Canada. This adventure takes him to Australia. Traveling alone, he will arrive in Sydney as I write this column.
I know that I am not alone in watching their children stretch their wings and then fly off to the far corners of the world. I am excited at the things he will learn and see. I am excited that he will meet and travel with people from around the world, staying in hostels and working his way around Australia. I am a little bit envious that he will be in a warmer climate year round even though he is beginning his walk about in the Australian fall. It also provides a great reason for Marnie and myself to travel farther.
As a parent, I must admit that since Adam announced his intention to travel six weeks ago, I began dreading the day that he would board his first flight taking himself halfway around the world. And Sunday, I began watching the progress of his flights, first to Chicago, then Las Angeles, then early Monday morning picking up his flight, as it was midway across the Pacific.
As the planes headed farther west, the separation seemed so much wider. I know in the age of computers, we can easily be in touch. He has Skype, which will allow him to call home very easily and inexpensively. He has created a blog site and I know that it should keep us up to date on where he is in Australia. Yet all those pieces seem so small to staying in contact.
As the youngest in the family, perhaps I have worried more. When he chose to go to university, it had to be far from home. That was the criteria. And now, I look at the time difference and he is 15 hours ahead. It is a considerable distance. Perhaps I am whining.
As I write this, I wonder back to my great grand parents who chose to leave Scotland over a century ago to begin a new life in Canada. Travel then was by steamship, train, and finally by ox cart. Just to reach Saskatchewan was a big under taking. On arrival in Canada, letters were sent back, telling them they had arrived. Traveling across Canada, a letter was probably sent in Saskatoon, and then regularly from the homestead in Biggar. Hearing replies probably took months. Yet those members found the excitement to go out and explore the world. It was their adventure. It was their adventure to a better life. It must have been earth shattering to their parents that they were going so far away.
Now travel has almost become a right of package to learn about the world by travel before committing to a job. It is also a wonderful education.
–Jim Cumming,
Publisher