My "Talent"

Everyone has their own unique talent- something that they are really good at. What's my talent? I think that my parent's explanation of mine and my sisters' talents illustrates it best. I heard my mom explain to some people at a party once about her 3 girls. She started off with my youngest sister, Sarah who is the dancer of the family- a cheerleader in high school and graduated with a degree in dance education. Next, Cynthia is the singer and actress of the family- she has majored in vocal performance and is currently acting in musicals in L.A. Finally, Cheryl whose talent is going to school and traveling. Yup, TRAVELING is my talent. And I have to say that I LOVE it. Europe is definitely the place outside the U.S. that I have been the most- 8 times. I LOVED living in Boston for 5 years in that I was NEVER bored and continually traveled around Boston and the New England area. My friend Dan and I have been travel buddies for a long time- we have thought about opening up a travel agency together where I plan the itineraries and Dan makes the logistics work (plane tickets, hotels, trains, etc). This is kind of my other dream- I think that it would be amazing to be like Rick Steves- that man knows Europe and has lead me to so many wonderful places. His guidebook, Mona Winks, which provides the highlights and details surrounding the most important works of art in the museums of Europe has been such an enhancement to my trip. My fellow travelers and I have bonded so much with this travel guru that we refer to him as "Rick" and say "Let's see what Rick has to say about it" and if Rick recommends it, we generally go.

Following his model, I have to admit that I really LOVE to put together itineraries for my family and friends who visited Boston. I made sure that they got to see all of the major sites that they wanted- with a few recommendations from me- and jam packed their days full of sightseeing. And the best was being able to show them the city that I love so much. That being said, my friend here in Cali, Inger, asked me if I had any recommendations for her since she is going to Boston in a few weeks. Needless to say, I pulled out all of my materials and I know that I overwhelmed her with suggestions. We met up for lunch today and discussed many of the different options and it brought back a longing for me to be able to show her around Boston too. But, that won't be happening, BUT I will very happily be back in Boston at the end of July-beginning of August for some national sociology conferences. How perfect that they are back in the city that I love so that I can try to finish up a few loose ends that I wasn't able to do.

I am nowhere near as familiar with San Francisco and the surrounding Bay area as I was with Boston, but I am working on it. Thus, I don't quite have my tour list of highlights made up yet for when people come to visit so please come and visit us so that I can start to better think about it!