where my mother went

Jane H. Heltman

1/21/30 - 12/22/10

today is the one year anniversary of my mother's death.  many of you who read this blog regularly know that my mother was an avid traveler.  she came by it genetically from her father.  so now being a third generation traveler it made sense for me to agree to take my mother's ashes to countries she had not been to during her lifetime. 

she was well traveled for someone of her generation- had seen pretty much all of Europe (parts of it numerous times) including the Baltic countries and eastern Europe - and China (in 1987!)  lots of the western hemisphere including Panama - and a good amount of Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania) but there were still places left on her list.  so years ago we had made an agreement that when she was gone I would scatter her ashes in the Lagoon in Venice, Italy but the idea evolved.  in the final few years of her life we hit upon the plan to take some of her ashes with me on my travels to places she had not yet gone and that way we could "share" the experience and she could "see" the new places.

so this year, her first year of traveling in a different "format" LOL - she visited the following places - in celebration of her life and of our travels together:

first stop was her old "stomping ground" as my dad would have said- Anna Maria Island in Florida- where we had a memorial service for her with her closest friends last February.

Then on to Tunisia in April:

in the Sahara under the stars

 at the Roman Ruins in Dougga 

overlooking the Mediterranean at Monastir

then on to other parts of Africa:

 on Table Mountain in Cape Town South Africa (views in two directions)

 at the Indian Ocean near Knysna, South Africa

 In Botswana in the Okavanga Delta

 In Zambia along the Lufupa and Kafue Rivers

in Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls

then later in the year- on to the Balkans (she had been to Croatia and Montenegro) but not Bosnia or Slovenia.

 at the foot of the Mostar bridge in Bosnia

along the river in Ljubljana, Slovenia

So it was an eventful year for my mother's ashes- seven new countries!  And five new ones (Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, New Zealand & Australia) coming up in 2012 - she has already been to Turkey and Greece... well actually so have we but we are planning a return trip there in October for a Greek Islands exploration along with Ephesus and Meteora.  Some new places...  time flies- I can't believe it is a whole year but then again I kept thinking the whole time we were in the Balkan countries this fall - it was already six years since my mom, my aunt and I and were there in 2005.