Zark Street: No Dream If You Will It

My husband surprised me yesterday with a proposition--always a good thing, and one I had not expected. "Let's go to Prague," he said.

"Really?" I looked at him wide eyed as it was the last thing I thought he'd suggest--especially in the midst of a pandemic.

Yet Prague has been on my bucket list for a long, long time and every year that goes by without going makes me feel like I'm missing out even more.

"Next year," he says, "I think we should do it."

That seems fair to me because it at least feels like the pandemic will have subsided enough for foreign travel. This year we plan to see friends and family in August and I feel that no matter what the hurdles might be at that point, I have to try everything possible to make THAT trip come happen.

I talked to a friend recently about traveling to see her family in March. She says the airport was tremendously crowded and she wore a mask, gloves, headshield, etc. She says she had a wonderful time and it was worth it, but the stress of traveling that way had to be hard.

I am counting on vaccines being more widespread and the world being just a little less crazy--just enough to get us all where we want to go without feeling like we're in the middle of a cattle stampede.

Prague, next summer, seems like a dream that must come true and one I can't put off any longer. I've said for years that any country that elected a playwright as its head of state is one I have to see, as I've had a thing forever about Vaclav Havel. (You would too if you read him/saw his work).

Can you imagine us electing a playwright in America? Where are those billboards that say "It could happen" or maybe we need a billboard that says "If you will it, it is no dream" like Theodore Herzl said?

If COVID taught me anything, (or should be teaching me anything) it is to stop putting off dreams and stop taking life and specifically my life for granted. It's interesting that my guy, who usually loves staying home and is perfectly happy to do so, was the one to suggest this. Did he know part of me felt like I'd never see Prague? Or even how stuck I feel in a hundred thousand ways?

I'm betting he did, which is why he suggested this trip. Knowing I need to take him up on it isn't enough, so I'm writing this public post so you can hold me to it, too. Please do that.

You know the saying that says every story is about someone who goes on a journey? I think that's because staying put is what most of us are too inclined to do and because journeys always take a little more effort than we want to deal with, sometimes. Extra points to the man in my life for pointing that out.

I guess our journeys are always waiting for us, yes? What we have to do is make sure we go on them. We can start just by opening the door.