We've all heard that comparing yourself to others only breeds unhappiness. I was just telling Mia the other day that there are always going to be people who have more than her, but that she should be grateful for all that she does have. I believe that, and lately I've been feeling very content and grateful exactly where I am. And yet, I can't help feeling jealous of my neighbors.
On Wednesday, they are leaving for a six month trip to Europe. He is a university professor on a research sabbatical, and for the spring semester, the university is paying for him, his wife and his two small children to live in Spain, Italy and a bunch of other romantic locations that I would love to visit. I love to travel, but in recent years we have had trouble finding the time and money to even go out of state. I haven't left the United States (except to go to the British Virgin Islands, which doesn't really count) since my trip to France just after graduating college, and Mr. SOC has been abroad exactly once, when he skiied in Switzerland as a child. The list of places I want to go keeps expanding, but my progress in crossing them off has slowed to a crawl.
Just yesterday, I was talking to Mr. SOC about how I want to give Mia a sense of how big and awe-inspiring the world is, a sense of how many possibilities there are for her life. And it occurred to me that one of the best ways to do that would be to take her places. Show her Europe, South America, Canada, Hawaii, California and Montana. Show her this big beautiful world and fill her with the knowledge of how many choices she has. And then I find myself contemplating another budget vacation to the beach this summer while one of her closest friends (the neighbors' daughter) embarks on yet another foreign adventure. You see, at 6, she has already been to Canada, Paris, Australia, Alaska and who knows where else. And now she's about to add six new countries to the list.
I know life is not fair. I know I could have made career choices that would have allowed me to travel more. And I know I am not exactly deprived. In the past year, I have taken work trips to San Diego, Seattle and Nashville. And just over a year and a half ago, I was on a sailboat in the BVI. And there is a possibility that I might get to go to Mexico in the spring. I have nothing to complain about. And I begrudge my neighbors nothing. They are great people, fully deserving of whatever good fortune has come their way in life. And still, I feel a twinge of envy every time I look across the street at their house. Guess I better get used to it, because I've got six months ahead of me.
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