A Dream Was Born

It all began one winter day while I was at Barnes and Noble perusing the travel section. I would go there between homework assignments when I needed a quiet place. (Even back then I was an introvert who liked to hide every once in a while in the pages of a good book.) With my Starbucks caramel latte in hand warming me through my finger less mittens, I glanced from cover to cover touching the hard glossy finish and raised lettering. Each made me wonder, what was the climate like, what were the people like? But, it was the one of Glencoe that struck me. I was immediately taken back in time to another world, a wild world, with majestic mountains, men clad in kilts riding galloping horses, castles with iron gates and deep lochs with their dark monsters lurking. Something began to take root as I flipped through those pages. My eyes saw fields of heather and battles fought for freedom. Tartans and clans, swords and stones. I heard my Poppie telling us when we were children with a snaggle-toothed grin "We have some Scots blood in us too ya know." Standing there in Barnes, sipping creamy cinnamon sprinkled froth, I wondered..... Would I one day be stepping foot in the land of my ancestors?

I became an Outlander fan, each novel making me yearn more and more for a land I felt I knew from another time. I was traveling through the stones, breathing misty air and weaving an ancient life. And when not immersed in the writings of that beautiful story, I'd come alive when it rained, and loved running in it even more. My palate for whisky became more emboldened as I jumped from Glenlivet and Glenfiddich on the rocks to Ardbeg and Lagavoulin neat. And I even started learning how to play the Tin Whistle. Scotland was home with its rolling green littered with craggy rocks and sheep. I imagined the pubs filled with rich music handed down through generations, dark castle ruins with winding stone cases once defended by the bravest of men.

Old Man Storr, Isle of Skye

Everything in me wanted more. More of this beautiful country, with mysteries and lost history, fairies and time traveling stones. I needed to see it all for myself and connect with the land, feel the Scottish rain on my face, hear the bagpipes and walk the cobblestone streets of Edinburgh. I began to make a plan in my mind and a dream was born. I WOULD go there one day, I would make it happen come hell or high water.

What's this life for if not for dreaming?