I was last in Sydney back in 2019.

I was scheduled to return to Australia and New Zealand for a few weeks in February/ March of 2020. In fact, I was within a hair's breadth of getting on the plane to go. But then, the pandemic happened, and the world closed down.

Until there is someday a better vaccine to actually prevent COVID, I doubt I'll be taking any more super long flights to such distant destinations in the foreseeable future. How sad. I so long to just have life back to how it used to be and be able to freely explore the world (near and far) again.

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But 2023 is not 2019.

Well, at least, I do have memories... Gag!!! I never, ever remotely imaged that I would ever have to say this at such a young age. I truly expected to still be out there, not stuck close to home because a pandemic stopped the World that can't seem to fully restart.

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By the way, yes, I could fully straight my leg on the bar. But we were short of time. The official from the opera house & I were merely playing around for a very quick photo before heading down to the employee cafeteria for breakfast. I wanted something personal to be able to show my husband when I got back home. This was it. The photo has been missing for the past 4 years. But I'm currently in the process of reorganizing my business photo server and very recently came across it.

This photo is a reflection of how things were before COVID changed the world for so many of us. I truly enjoyed being a temporary insider wherever I went in the world. I found great joy in working with the different people (of all nationalities) that made all possible. The above photo was taken near the end of a long, tiring, multi week trip. I miss my old life. Hopefully, the world will recover, and I can resume my work as before.