On our one hundredth wedding anniversary, my wife bought me tickets for a pilgrimage to Earth. The Great Visit is something every human is required to undertake at least once in their lifetime. I have put it off many times, she was right to get the tickets when she did. It is an arduous trek, no one should leave it until they are old. She made the journey when she was young and the younger the better of course, though there are advantages to leaving it late. We are financially comfortable and she purchased the full, luxury, Chaucerian Experience. No roughing it for me.
But it is worrying me, I will have to tell my Tale to the other Pilgrims and there really is not much to say. An only child, I joined the army straight from school. I married young, at the age of seventy. Once my tour of duty on Proxima Centauri b was done, I got a desk job selling insurance, raised my kids and… And that is it. This will be the first time I have traveled on my own.
I guess my Tale will be short. Not unhappy at all.
But somehow very sad.