Scotland — part 1. It’s not really about Scotland.

Yours truly is in the bright red-hooded sweatshirt. Caroline is one person over to the right, in a pink sweatshirt. We’re in the Highlands, on Loch Alsh, to the east of the Isle of Skye.

It all started with a failure, but ended well. Uhhh, sort of well.

The plan was perfect. The tickets were booked. The hotels were paid for. We were just a couple months away from this long-planned trip, and …

But perhaps I should start at the beginning.

It was early 2019, and I contacted my long-time friend — a friend since we met in junior high school — and together, we planned a trip to Scotland. Actually, I had started a savings account — first an envelope labeled “Scotland $” — and it had about $3000 in it by 2019. Caroline and I worked out the details, the dates, and in late 2019, I had made the hefty deposit for both our tours. We were all set for May of 2020. My husband, who was not going with us, was almost as excited for our “Friends Trip” as we were.

And then in March 2020, the world shut down. COVID-19 meant my long-anticipated trip set for May 2020 was delayed until September 2020, then delayed again, then cancelled and refunded. And my trip fund eventually became just money in the bank and was used for bills and whatever expenses came along.

Fast forward over 4 years later, and much of life’s water flowing under the bridge (and a hip replacement and a later re-replacement and ample recovery time), we re-committed and re-planned and re-booked…