A world away

I have a sister, we'll call her "M", who despite growing up in a rural town with the rest of us, has spread her wings wide and decided to travel the world. I'm not kidding, she's been all over the world, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Several Caribbean Nations, Kiribati, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Italy, Nepal and India (Soon: France, Czech Republic and UK). She's dragged various people along with her on her adventures, another sister of ours, friends and recently her new husband (he's such a good sport). We miss her when she's gone but since she hasn’t really lived here in years we mostly just look forward to when she visits. My sister and I are 12 months apart in age, that’s right 12 measly months, but we couldn’t be more different. I have chosen the more traditional route, working, marriage, and family. M has chosen to travel, work sporadically (enough to pay for the next adventure), and finally to settle down or so we thought. I'm sure her husband knew exactly what he was getting into when he married her earlier this year, after all he's been dating her on and off for the last seven years or so (that is whenever she was in the same country as him). M has worked hard to complete an incredible education. She has great training and numerous contacts for her many environmental education endeavors throughout the world. M wants to make the world a better place.
M and her husband are in the middle of an around the world vacation. They are currently in India developing an ocean education program to be distributed internationally through the Ocean Network (big group of NGO, Government agencies, and International agencies). Thanks to the modern conveniences, which thankfully they have in India too, we've been talking on the internet via instant messaging. It's been fun. M is in a time zone 11.5 hours different than here, (if you're wondering about the .5 hour difference, I did too, M's husband has a perfectly logical explanation for this, and he too is a brilliant educated man, so we'll just trust him). Since my parents were staying with me for a night, M and I arranged a time for them to talk to her while in India. It was great, mostly my mom types as my dad dictates questions to her (if you knew him, you'd know he's full of questions when it come to M and her adventures). My dad does type, but at a snails pace, no even that’s too fast. Anyway four hours later, most of my dad's questions answered, M went to bed and we went on with our day. Thank goodness we live in a day when no matter how many worlds away M is we can still talk to her and know she's well and having fun. Some days after talking to her about her tuk tuk ride through Bangkok, seeing the Taj Mahal at sunset or climbing the old ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia I feel better about my life. I think I'm living vicariously through her from the safety and comforts of my own little house, which is perfect for me. I hate mosquitoes, I'm miserable in humidity and I avoid hiking at all costs. Thanks for the adventures M; I'm loving the ride.