My mother’s wise advice, the tragic vacation to see the Titanic wreckage, decision-making, and my close calls

A mother’s advice on travel and finding answers, meaning, and perspective

Once in my youth, not too long after beginning the stress and challenging times of medical training, I told my wife one evening in our small cozy apartment, “I need to take some vacation time off to wrap my head around all these current demands and changes. I need a break to gain perspective on the meaning and purpose of my newly chosen medical career path.” My wife and I agreed, so we planned and then set off on a long drive to a yoga retreat center in the mountains to meet, learn, and do practices with a popular and well-known yoga teacher.¹