One day

One day I told Daniel that the great failing in my life had been that I didn‘t take a year
or two off to travel when I finished college. This is the best way, to my way of thinking,
to broaden oneself and develop a larger perspective on life. Once I had married and begun
working, I found that the dream of living in another culture had vanished.
Daniel thought about this. His friends said that he would be insane to put his career on
hold. But he decided it wasn‘t so crazy. After graduation, he worked as a waiter at
college, a bike messenger and a house painter. With the money he earned, he had enough to go
to Paris.
The night before he was to leave, I tossed in bed. I was trying to figure out something to
say. Nothing came to mind. Maybe, I thought, it wasn‘t necessary to say anything.