Coming out of the chute.......

Originally published  21 December 2016

Hanging out in the Nashville airport before our flight

​Hey everybody! We're off on another adventure! As with all the ones in the past, we'll publish the link on facebook as well as email folks who have expressed an interest in getting an email link. As with all the others, if you're not interested and want to be off the list, let me know and I'll take you off. I normally publish an introduction from Nashville and then one at our first stop. Things have been a bit hectic so I'm publishing two today, from our first stop.

Our stops on this adventure will include a few new places we haven't been before, and one or two that we have. We're starting with a layover in London, then to Berlin, then to Copenhagen, then to the Alps, then to Venice! We are not afraid to travel about....so we can see all of the places and things that interest us so. We hope you'll enjoy tagging along!

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After the events of this week, I’m not in the normal happy mood I have at the beginning of a new trip. A terrorist executed the Russian ambassador in Turkey.......and then another terrorist drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin. Laurie and I had planned on being in that exact Christmas market just a few days from now.

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We’re still going, starting out in Berlin. Someone at work asked if I was scared about going, and I said I wasn’t.......I was angry. Angry about the people killed that didn’t deserve it. Angry that many are injured. Angry that the lives and livelihood of the people working at the market were disrupted and maybe destroyed. Angry that a time of joy and fun was turned into a time of sadness and grief.

I’m too old to enlist and and go to the sandbox......so I’ll do what I can. And what I can do is be DEFIANT. I’m not staying home, in fear. I’m going to Germany. I’m going to drink beer there. I’m going to Christmas markets. I’m going to the museums. I’m going to the restaurants. I’m going to do all the things they want to scare me out of doing......so they can be in control.

Laurie and I will remain vigilant, but we refuse to let these people dictate who we are and what we want to do and see. The blog this year isn't "Outside my Southern Comfort Zone" as in years past. It's called "DEFIANT: 2016/2017". Part one is being published now, and part two will follow an hour or so behind. Let’s go to Europe!

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