The World
A mother picking up her child from a playdate once said to me, “I just came across your website and didn’t know you had a long career on television or traveled anywhere. And here I thought you were some Fairfield County shut-in Mom because you’re always with the kids and bake & craft and they come back home with cookies & stuff.”
I seriously had no comeback.
I just politely ushered her and her sweet daughter out the door, brownies & artwork in hand. It’s important to note here that this woman is an executive whose nanny usually picks up the little girl who’s been coming over for years. The Mom blurted her judgmental comment of which she certainly knew nothing about…ah, yes, one should never assume.
True, I’ve had an 
illustrious career distinguished by multiple journalism awards, blah, blah, blah. But being a mother has
been & always will be my most important job. And true, I don’t send kids back home with their homemade goodies on a paper plate saying, “Susie was such a good girl and did you know I’ve been to more than 60 countries over 150 times on 5 continents? Have a nice night.”
What riled me was that any Mom would think any other Mom was a “shut-in” just because she liked being home with the kids. All the kids, their friends and friends of their friends. Yeah, I like that! I like being home with my family & my pets. I’ve been fortunate enough to choose to stay home because I wish to. I’m grateful for it. I like that I only have to go to the radio station once a week & can write from home when the kids are in school. I don’t mind if a Mom works in an office, works from home, doesn’t have a job or doesn’t choose to keep working. Moms should not judge one another, they should support each other & their choices.
That night, memories of my travels flitted through my mind… trains, ships & air on countless flights & logging tens of thousands of miles sailing through the Adriatic Sea, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Pacific Ocean, Andaman Sea, Denmark Strait, Red Sea, English Channel, Sea of Marmara, East & South China Seas, Gulf of Alaska, Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Aden, Suez Canal, Sea of Crete, Ionian Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, crossing the International Date Line via ship, learning preventive pirate safety measures through the Suez Canal, and giving a big thumbs up to our US Air Force pilots during a fly-by over our vessel in the Red Sea. Enjoying cool places like Malaysia, Egypt, China, Russia, India, Japan, Ireland, Turkey, Venezuela, Scotland, the Philippines, Germany, former Yugoslavia, Taiwan, England, Mexico, Hong Kong, Denmark, Spain, Guatemala, Sweden, islands throughout the Caribbean, and most of our own beautiful States from the top of the Haleakala Volcano in Hawaii to the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, to snowy Killington Peak in Vermont and sunny San Diego, California & most everything in between.
Coming from a large multicultural family, I eagerly welcome different traditions, different people, different views, and my travel experiences are packed with wonderful memories & world lessons … with a handful I’d like to forget. Sure, those are the best stories but for another time…
I’ve been a dinner guest at Parliament, a special guest at a Royal wedding, and a Thanksgiving guest in Turkey. I’ve enjoyed divine spa treatments on the beaches of Malaysia and wretched at the sight of travel friends drinking snake blood in Taiwan for a dare. Ewww! (Yes, they became very ill!)
I’ve been to Tianamen Square before the ’89 crisis, to Berlin before the wall came down, to Sarajevo before the war, and to Cancun before President Reagan attended an economic summit there making that once-quiet getaway in Mexico a carousing hub for partying tourists.
I’ve been stuck at the top of a pyramid in Chichen Itza & stuck in a remote beach bathroom in the dark in Marbella Costa del Sol when the door handle broke…and so did the light!
I’ve kissed the great-great-great-great-great…on-and-on direct descendant of Christopher Columbus, a duke, and a well-known European prince who kisses like a lizard. Yuck! Traveling can be good and not so good!
I purchased my 1st major piece of jewelry in Hong Kong along with 100 rolls of film. Yup, took a lot of pictures then, too! I’ve been traveling to Europe & around the world since I was just a few weeks old. So let’s take a little photo journey throughout the years: GERMANY with Mom
GIBRALTAR BARBADOS
MALAYSIA – apparently I liked stripes!
BERLIN WALL
JAPAN
INDIA
Stark contrasts in India, just a walk away
Beautiful Taj Mahal mausoleum on the Yamuna River, commissioned 1632. Sweet monkey.
And below is the Red Fort, Palace of the Mughal Emperors, AGRA, INDIA
Great Wall of CHINA – Odd that we don’t notice these things when we’re younger but why am I standing over that mountainous edge just for a photo!?
Autumnal view through the Wall’s window, Graffiti on the Wall, and LOOK at those STEEP steps!!
LONDON Summer Ball
HONG KONG BOMBAY
CALIFORNIA
TAIWAN
Kinsale, County Cork, IRELAND
PHILIPPINES DUBROVNIK, YUGOSLAVIA (former)
ST. MAARTEN ROYAL THEATRE LONDON
SOUTH CHINA SEA
SPAIN
SEVILLA CADIZ
The GREAT EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS at sunset…breathtaking
GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA, sitting on the steps in a PALACE IN EGYPT
BEIJING UNIVERSITY
MONTREAL
St. Basil’s Cathedral. MOSCOW, RUSSIA 
ST. PHILIP, ATLANTIC COAST
I was able to photograph the bride during their ceremony at CHIANG KAI-SHEK’s MEMORIAL
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA PENANG
BARBADOS
SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
TURKEY
HUALIEN
JAMAICA
OSAKA Great Pyramid – oldest of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
GOETEBERG, SWEDEN
Beer from vending in KOBE….and 26 years later with my Hello Kitty backpack in SCOTLAND
CHICAGO
My Dad getting us on the helicopter to see the Haleakala Volcano in HAWAII & later the waterfalls
KYOTO
TAROKO GORGE, TAIWAN LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND
ISTANBUL
Getting stuck at the top of the CHICHEN ITZA Pyramid in MEXICO. Daddy saved me! And we left the arena immediately in tears in VENEZUELA!
PUERTO VALLARTA TIANANMEN SQUARE
MARBELLA, COSTA del SOL
TURKS & CAICOS
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS (my Mom snapped these shots)
Attended Trinity College, DUBLIN, IRELAND… And visiting a hilltop monument in Ireland
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, Archipelago, Pacific Ocean
KIEL with my Granddad
NARA, JAPAN
MT. KILLINGTON, VERMONT THE GRAND CANYON
BERLIN
ASCOT, EAST BERKSHIRE, UK
ROYAL ASCOT
GUATEMALA DENMARK
BRANDENBURG GATE, EAST/WEST GERMANY age 9
DALLAS
LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH, WALES Longest town name in the world!! This is the train station.
LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND
AMISH COUNTRY, PENNSYLVANIA
MARBELLA A. EINSTEIN MEMORIAL, WASHINGTON, D.C.
NEWPORT, R.I. ILLINOIS
WALES
IOWA KEY WEST
TEXAS
SOUTHEAST ASIA
ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS OUTER BANKS, NORTH CAROLINA
6 bucks for this hostel in EAST ASIA
ENGLAND IRELAND
KREMLIN, MOSCOW ADRIATIC SEA SUEZ CANAL
SULTANAHMET CAMII Blue Mosque, circa 1609
GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS, NYC PARK CITY, UTAH
If you know me, I’ve been snapping photos of kids or with kids for over 3 decades.
Look at these precious children from SARAJEVO & CHINA, simply beautiful!!!
MONGOLIAN barbecue in ASIA MILLENNIUM in EUROPE
NEW LONDON County
NEW YORK CITY ANDALUSIA
WESTERN ASIA with my Mom when I was 5. EAST GERMANY when I was 9.
MAUI
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SNOWBIRD, UTAH BERMUDA
DUSSELDORF, GERMANY for GRAND DEPART of TOUR de FRANCE
More CARIBBEAN Island pics with Mom eons ago
BEAR MOUNTAIN MEDITERRANEAN SEA CATSKILLS
BERLIN Zoo BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
SOUTH AMERICA NEW JERSEY
GREENWICH Polo
BALTIC SEA BAY OF KIEL
ARABIAN SEA ATLANTIC OCEAN
FLORIDA
Flying to MARTHA’S VINEYARD – our 9-year-old daughter co-pilots 🙂
DUTCH WONDERLAND
MEDITERRANEAN
VALLEY FORGE
VICTORIA & AUSTIN, TEXAS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Reagan’s Procession
NEAR EAST around age 5
THE PENNINES
LABOE MALAGA
CHEYENNE SPRING, COLORADO CANCUN
HAMBURG HADRIAN’S WALL built by the Romans 122 A.D.
TURKS & CAICOS GRACE BAY LANCASHIRE, UK
NEVADA
CORPUS CHRISTI LIME ROCK KIEL-WIK
CONNECTICUT PHILADELPHIA
INDIAN OCEAN NYC
VALLARTA return THE HAMPTONS SAN DIEGO
SUEZ CANAL, built circa 1860 YORK, ENGLAND
THE EVERGLADES Elvis’ home, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
NEW HAMPSHIRE SNOWBIRD in UTAH
Photo taken from our towel on a Caribbean beach, eeek
Chillin’ in OCHO RIOS
Old Capitol Building, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA ILLINOIS
SCANDINAVIA SAN ANTONIO
THE KEYS, PROVIDENCIALES, KOBE & THE BAHAMAS
The Bright Spot – Home Sweet Home ~ As I’ve stated many times on-air, online and in person, my very favorite place to be in the whole world is home with my family & furbabies, feet up in my little white socks, a pony tail, Greek salad & a good family movie.
There are loads more places & photos, but this pictorial refutation has clearly served its purpose. The real point here is don’t judge people especially if you’ve never gotten to know their background. As my friend, Sara, so succinctly put it regarding the woman’s comment – “Honestly, some nerve!!” We laugh because, seriously, one can only chuckle at the mother’s unapprised statement at this point.
Let me just say to that mother who assumed I was a “shut-in” because I like to craft with the kids & make their day magical – there is no greater job than raising the next generation of kindly world citizens, travelers & defenders of Earth & her gifts. That’s my gift back to this planet that’s been a joy to traverse, study, explore & relish!!
The Hamptons
In the 16 weeks since Phillip’s surgery, we’ve been back to the hospital 24 times including a 3rd full-body MRI and chemical injections. (To see the full story, click here: Kicking Cancer) By the end of March, Phillip’s PSA level was tested 4 times, and on each occasion the reading went up!! Having had the prostate removed, the PSA level should be undetectable. When the 4th result came in showing an increase of 77% from the first post-surgery reading, we were really unnerved.
So Phillip surprised me with a weekend house in the Hamptons. The Atlantic was our backyard! If you squint, you can see the kids looking for shells by the water’s edge in the photo above       . 
He wrote on his blog (Phillip’s Journey), “IÂ wanted my wife to have some down time, as she has been carrying the burden greatly. 
For those of you who know her, you know she loves deeply and has deep emotions. This journey has been tough on her, and I wanted her to unwind more than anything. I
didn’t realize how much I needed this, too. We spent the weekend in an idyllic beach home with glorious weather. We chilled, played board games, grilled fresh salmon & steak, we talked, we walked, we flew kites, we gazed at the ocean & listened to the breaking surf, we delighted in the laughter of our daughter & her friends playing in the sand, running down the beach, rescuing overturned horseshoe crabs, and we reveled in the pure joy of beach life.
And the really good news… my latest blood test last week shows that my PSA is now undetectable. So, 40 rounds of daily radiation begins in June, then another round of chemical injections, and my plan is to have kicked it to the curb by then….Cancer out!”
To think Phillip was again worried about me when it is he going through all this agony! How incredibly loving, how completely appreciated!! This weekend was the respite we all needed.
The children made s’mores before watching family movies and Darling played her latest instrument, a Seagull Merlin she just stenciled.
Smoked salmon for breakfast & chocolate-dipped strawberries at lunch. 
More kite-flying, even by my Mom, exploring the Bay, 
and proper burials & prayers for horseshoe crabs that were found washed ashore. The children crafted their own crosses from beach wood and sea grass. 
   A little bit of shopping and a 
REALLY windy ride back on the ferry completed the long weekend.
The Bright Spot – We all feel rejuvenated! 
Especially Phillip, he looks fantastic!!!!
Thank you, my Love!
