The morning is cloudy. A cooling breeze comes and goes, but the heat continues, and the day will get as high as 87˚. A couple of plants need to be potted, but that’s it for my to-do list. The heat makes me loll.

When I was in the sixth grade, one of my classmates had a grandmother who lived in England. He went to visit her every few years. I oozed jealousy. Never did I imagine I could see the world, but I wished I would. My family, including all the aunts and uncles, didn’t travel overseas for pleasure. My father saw Europe during the war. His ship was in Rotterdam, and he remembered seeing the Manneken Pis in Brussels, Belgium. I told people I suffered from Barrett’s Disease, named after that classmate. I didn’t explain it and nobody asked thinking perhaps it was serious or even life threatening. Had anyone asked I would have told them it was my vow to out-travel my classmate, and I hold vows as promises.

The first country I visited was Canada. It didn’t seem all that foreign, but it was still first on my list of countries I’d visited and was the only country on that list for years, through high school and college. Ghana was second on the list. Never did I think I’d ever visit let alone live in Africa, but after a while, it seemed a cheat because I felt so comfortable in Ghana it stopped feeling like a foreign country. I traveled the countries bordering Ghana, and my list got longer. I always thought it the most amazing list, and I was just getting started.

When I chose Peace Corps, I never thought it would be the best decision I’d ever make. It was both exciting and scary. What I knew about Africa came from books and movies, but none of it really prepared me. Ghana was exotic, even magical. Those pictures from my geography books came alive. Women carried huge loads on their heads. On markets days, sellers and shoppers vied for space. I always thought the markets had a bit of carnival about them. The sides of the roads were filled with women sitting in the shade selling their goods, selling fruit and cooking food for sale. I didn’t know what I was eating, but I was adventurous enough to try. I tasted plantain, Guinea fowl, yam chips, mangoes and pawpaw (papaya) for the first time. I loved them all and more.

I haven’t added to my list of countries in a long time. My last three trips were back to Ghana. Before that I visited Morocco. When I added it to my list, I didn’t realize Morocco would anchor that last spot for such a long while.

I still suffer from Barrett’s disease so I’m itching to travel, the only way to mitigate my symptoms.

The heat is unrelenting. Today may be the hottest of all here. The temperature is already 87˚. I was going to do some planting but have decided to stay in the house until later in the afternoon when it might be just a bit cooler. The dogs go outside, do their business quickly then run back into the house and collapse in the cool air.

When I was a kid, Saturday was the best day of the week. I’d eat my cereal in the living room so I could watch TV. I always sat on the floor in front of the TV cabinet. Saturday morning TV was kid-centric. I remember Rin Tin Tin and Rusty, both of whom lived at an army post. Rusty would yell at ease and Rinty would let go of his prey, the bad guy. We tried to train our dog Duke, but he was a free spirit and never listened. In the winter, I watched until later in the morning. On warmer days I was gone early, usually for the whole day, mostly on my bike.

I loved exploring my town. Sometimes I would walk through the square and window shop. I always stopped to watch the lobsters floating in the pool at the fish market, but I hated the smell which hung in the air outside the store. I checked out the windows at Woolworth’s and Grant’s. I liked Woolworth’s better. My dime went a long way. I’d bike to the outskirts of my town in different directions and sometimes into the next town. I’d ride on the dirt beside the tracks. I knew where one side of the tracks ended, but I never reached the end of the other side. The tracks just kept going. I’m still curious about that. I did search but didn’t find the answer. It is still a mystery but not one worthy of Nancy Drew’s talents.

When I was older, in my teens, and still too young for cars, my friends and I walked. We had stops like O’Grady’s diner for a brownie topped with ice cream or one of the drug stores for a Coke. I preferred a vanilla Coke. We had drill practice either at the field, Recreation Park, until it got dark or in the school yard under lights. It was always dark when I walked home. I was never afraid in my town.