About Mom Trip 2017

Last Christmas, following years and years of listening to Momma Himm talk about wanting to go to Barcelona and finding reason after reason why she couldn’t (typically resulting from expenses having to do with us) - my brother and I decided to make it happen. With a little help from him and his girlfriend and a lot of help from my squirreled away airlines miles and barclay credit card, we scotch taped airline tickets to Ireland and Spain underneath Gold- wrapped bottles of Irish Creme and Malbec and watched with pure delight on Christmas morning as her confusion of her adult children doing a “stock the bar” present turned to squealing and cheers at the realization that she and I would be crossing the pond the week of her 61st birthday in September to make her dream of coming to Spain come true . 

(Mom holding her Irish Crème and Spanish Malbec)



To fully understand Momma Himm’s desire to go to Spain and why this trip was so important, you might need a little background.  First and foremost, you should know that my mom is a total and utter badass.  If you’re wondering where I get my travel bug from, it is undoubtedly her (though I can only hope to one day possess the same and total fearless badassery as she).  Momma Himm was on her own by 17 and when she was in her mid-20’s she decided she wanted to see the world - so she worked and worked to make it happen and saved for a plane ticket to backpack through Europe for 3 months with her best friend.  A few weeks before the trip her best friend backed out of the trip and Mom decided to go solo.  As the story goes, she was only 3 weeks into her trip when she found herself in a rose garden in Vienna and came to the realization there was far more to see than she could fit into 3 months.  She called home and said, “Keep my things in storage, I’m staying.”  For the next two years she ski’d the Swiss Alps, learned to speak fluent Dutch, walked the streets of Bethlehem, saw the pyramids of Giza - all alone and while completely financially supporting herself along the way doing jobs like working the laundry (where no one spoke English) at a ski resort in Switzerland,  doing Jane Fonda workout classes for fancy 5-star hotel guests, and working a falafel stand in Jerusalem.  Like I said - badass. 

Around year two of her travels, KHimm (then K Esquibel) was making her way South to Spain when she received the news that her dad was dying of cancer and didn’t have much time.  She rushed home, stayed by his side to say goodbye. and while home ended up meeting my dad, getting married, being admitted into nursing school and later interior design , graduating college, and popping out two kids.  Slowly but surely, as they do, the days turned into years and the years turned into decades.  

Even with the last decade marred with divorce, the death of my father, and unprecedented challenges, Momma Himm continued to press on.  She gave up her dreams in exchange for the dreams for her children - loading baggage at the Airport and then getting a job in Insurance to support her two kids through college graduations, leaving the nest, and becoming (relatively) self-sufficient adults.  

When it came time for Wyatt (my little brother) and my annual “what to get Mom for Christmas” pow wow - the decision  was easy - let’s get this hardworking Momma to Barcelona.  

Being as that I am not an entirely selfless person, I threw in the first stop to Ireland for myself.  Mom had never had any interest in going, but I had every interest in going back - so I told her the tickets were un-refundable and to start packing. 

And that, my friends, is how Mom Trip 2017 "took flight"...