How Did I Do That?

Last night I was driving home on Horizon Ridge and noticed where the restaurant Chicago’s Own used to be. There’s another restaurant there now, but the memory that came back to me was the night Denny and I ate there; the night before I went to Ireland by myself for a month.
Going to Ireland for a month by myself had been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, just my backpack, a laptop and me. I was looking forward to seeing all the friends I’ve made over the years, meeting new ones, but most of all I was looking forward to writing.
I worked on and re-wrote some of the poems I had already written, and wrote several new ones in that month. I traveled around to see the sites, sometimes with friends, other times by myself, finding new pubs, restaurants, bookstores and quiet time.
Now, 3 years later, I look back and say, “How did I do that?”
Although I’ve been to Ireland several times before, sometimes with Denny, other times with our son, and even more times with different girlfriends, I had never ventured out alone, across the pond by myself for that long. I couldn’t help but wonder,
How was I able to do that?
Recently while at our Creative Women’s Group, we were talking about all the different goals we have, the dreams we would like to realize, what we want to write next, where to go, what to do… when my friend Ann made a good observation.
She said, “Maybe it’s good to stop once in a while and think about what we’ve already done, what we’ve already accomplished."
How brilliant is that! I thought. So, for now,
I’m going to sit back and revel in the fact that I went to Ireland for a month… by myself. What have you already done? What is your Oh my Gosh! How did I do that moment?