July 10, 2019

By Pam Harlin, Meemic Foundation Director

Summer travel. 
 
Sigh.
 
Whether it is for business (ugh!) or pleasure (yippee!), the process of getting from point A to point B has become increasingly challenging in our 21st century world of technological advances.
 
With air travel, I’m either being patted, swabbed or scanned at airport security, or I’m being squeezed in the skies by shrinking airline seats (or maybe I’m expanding ... darn that diet!). On the roads, I’m driving through a living pinball machine with all of these construction barrels, cones and unexpected detours that even frustrates my GPS (“recalculating ... again”). 
 
But with all of these travel challenges, there are many pluses to summer travel. I recently flew to Atlanta on business and had the pleasure to sit next to a retired teacher. Strangers passing in the night. We struck up a conversation that started with a simple, “I love your dress” (Amazon. Midi length. Loved it!), which led to a wonderful conversation on her journeys in teaching. 
 
Although she is enjoying her retirement and her 7-month-old grandson, her fondest memories remain with the joys she gained from her years of teaching and the happy tears shed from accomplishments made, like with one of her autistic students that she was told she “shouldn’t expect much from.” When he was able to say his alphabet by the end of the school year, there wasn’t a dry eye in her classroom. 
 
Some travels are just worth the journey. 
 
You’ll find it easy to travel within The Meemic Foundation grant applications, too. We removed all of the obstacles – there are no grant application questions to answer! Simply sign into your Foundation Club account and click in to enter. You’ll be done before your GPS is warmed up and ready to go (“You have arrived at your destination”)!