Infertility and the Gift of Travel

So what does infertility have to do with traveling?

Well, it all started many years ago. I grew up in a small town in Colorado and I always seemed to play it safe. However I always longed for adventure.

When I went to college, I met my incredibly handsome and funny husband, Mike (can you tell I like him…just a little). This was very early on, when I was 18 and in my freshman year of college, to be exact. Before I ever met him I vowed that I was going to travel abroad to Europe one semester during school.

We ended up staying together in a 3-year long distance relationship and traveling abroad meant we wouldn't be able to see each other for over 6 months. At the time it seemed too long, so Mike said if I don’t go he vowed that one day we would travel Europe together instead.

Medical school came and went and there was not a lot of travel during that time. Mike was an employee at a corporate job with only 2 weeks of vacation a year which also added a major obstacle to traveling. My dream of visiting Europe seemed so far out of reach.

After medical school we were trying to have a baby and I knew that once we became pregnant we weren't going to be doing much traveling either. My sadness of working constantly, not having a baby, and not living out the adventure I always longed for was starting to take its toll.

However, Mike and I were determined to create our dream life so after I started my medical practice, Mike was given the opportunity to start his own engineering consulting business. This was our ticket to freedom.

Magically, or perhaps by divine orchestration, one of the teams he consults for happened to be based in Norway. We have been blessed to visit Europe four times in the past few years, twice this year alone due to his work commitments. We have visited Italy, France, Spain, Scotland, and Norway so far.

Mike has made good on his promise to take me all over Europe and our little baby who just isn't quite ready to join us yet has given me this precious gift as well. If I had become pregnant when I originally wanted to, we wouldn’t have been able to create the businesses we have that have allowed us this freedom…and we wouldn’t have had the time and space to have these adventures together.

I am seeing the blessings infertility has had in this season of our lives, as challenging and heart breaking as it has been. We don’t know what the next season has in store, perhaps it involves a little one, but no matter what happens I am grateful for my first dream to come true and for the time I have had with Mike all to myself.

Traveling really has been medicine for me. I hope you are able to get a little dose of medicine for yourself and travel in whatever way feels best for you!

Until next time,

Dr. Gordon