Yup, my Mom was right. 
She used to tell us when we were growing up that there was a big, wide-open world "out there" and that someday, after we had grown, we would get to experience all of it ~ whatever we wanted to take in.
If we wanted to travel, she would be happy for us ~ my parents loved to travel. If we wanted to stay nearby, that was fine ~ they lived in the state of Michigan all their own lives.
When I was single, I did some traveling...not too much, but some, enough for me. My husband Mike had done quite a bit himself, so he was happy to settle down.
For the past 30 years, we have stayed here, in Michigan...happily raising our family. Taking small trips up north when we could, sometimes staying for a weekend at my parents' cottage in Ontario when we could get over there.
And then, as the children grew older, they took their own trips to different states, up north, to Canada.
But for all of our short jaunts, we are homebodies at heart. And this brings me to my latest reason for musing...
...Since breaking my leg, it has occurred to me many times how little I can get around now, through no fault of my own, depending upon everyone else to do even the smallest things for myself. It's better now of course, than it was when I first fell, but still I depend upon them.
And so, as I sit here, cooped up in the house (except for trips to breakfast with Mike or to the doctor's office or to Holy Mass), I am reminded that I haven't been anywhere else, either. I find my whole world right here ~ in my living room ~ in front of the TV. I draw pictures, I read books, I say my Rosary and other prayers. I "play" on my laptop. I keep up with the daily comings and goings of my family. But my "world" has shrunk.
The most I have seen of it, I'm afraid, has been through my own TV set ~ and there has entered into my life a whole new list of worldly figures ~ Dr. Phil, Judge Greg Mathis, A Haunting of the Discovery channel...and of course, my own favorite DVDs.
I get to see my front yard gardens, which I dearly miss. I see the flowers blooming, but smothered in overgrowth...and that will have to wait. And I have come to be a great fan of Dr. Phil, lol ~ and I am a connoisseur of the "judge shows" on the tube, as well ~ my favorite being Greg Mathis, who also hails from my home state.
Yes, Mom, I'm afraid that my "world" has been narrowed down to this. I sit in my living room and "watch the world go by," so to speak.
Soon I know I will be able to go back to my former life ~ walking about at will ~ and doing all that I was doing before. But in the meantime, I will have to remember that the whole wide world "out there" is only as big as I make it for myself...
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