“Oh no! No Mom, can’t I just stay in bed? Why can’t we just stay home for once, like the other kids do? Do you have to keep dragging us here, there, and everywhere all the time? It’s so boring!” To this barrage of protest, my mother simple answered, “Some day, you’ll appreciate all this.” Grumbling we kids would struggle into our clothes, eat breakfast, and be off on whatever excursion my mother had in mind for us.

It was not unusual for mom to get us children up as early as 3 a.m. to take a bus, train, or a ferry boat to parts unknown. My mom loved to travel and see all kinds of historical landmarks, museums, churches, botanical gardens, and architectural buildings. The list is never ending of all the places she would drag us. We would travel for four or five hours, get off and have tea and crumpets, then transfer onto another bus, which would take us to our destination another three hours away. There were boring times and how I dreaded them. We could curl up and sleep for a while or read the books we’d brought along. Mom did do some ‘sing-a-longs’ with us or we’d play the ‘alphabet games’, and ‘I spied.’ although that passed some of the time, my mom would rather watch the scenery or talk to the fellow passengers.

Whenever we complained or got restless, mom would say, “you’ll remember this some day and appreciate it.”

To my surprise, the day did come when I appreciated all these excursions and the places I’d been. It is a great heritage that was given to me and enhanced my cultural perspective and interest in historical settings. My life has been enriched because my mother risked the lamenting of unhappy children to instill in them, a great love of the world into which they were born.