Transformative Experiences

When we left Europe and came back to the states. The staytes was so different than Europe.

I grew up in San Diego, and never saw the mountains except from a distance. When I was 12, a friend invited me to go to the mountains with them for the day. I did, and it was magical. I don't remember too much about it now, but it was the first time I ever saw snow.

When I turned 40, I was going through a rough time. A friend offered the use of her camp that was near a beach in Maine. I jumped to the offer. I had been to the beach with my mother as a teenager. Didn't fully appreciate the experience. Saw the ocean as we passed by it in a station wagon. I had a window seat and was disappointed not to be able to walk the sand. The first day of my venture at the beach as an adult was mind altering. I lay out my blanket. Told my kids not to go out too far as they ran toward the water. I slathered on thick layer of sunblock, pulled my hair back, sat on the blanket and gazed out at the waves as they rolled in and out. The gulls flew over the beach, some landing in the sand looking for food. Children were playing near the water or on the beach. People walked along bending to pick up an occasional shell. I closed my eyes and breathed in the salty air. It was invigorating. I spied my children at the water's edge. Their laughter beckoned me to join them. We waded into the water together, laughing, splashing, enjoying the day. As the tide went out, we started collecting shells. We had bags full of them. As the day drew to an end we gathered up our belongings and went back to the car. We drove back to the camp, exhausted. After 2 days we drove back home. I was forever grateful for the experience. I would forever yearn to go back.

I like you grew up closer to the sea than the mountains, not that we had a local beach, for us it was the hustle and bustle of the port that was ever present, especially as my dad worked there. I fell in love with mountains when I was old enough to explore the country on my own, the Lake District and Pennines were particularly my favourites. Photos always give me time to pause, but as mine are mostly slides I would have to setup the projector to see them.

Erm difficult to say, I've travelled a lot and lived in many places. The only thing call to attention must've been when we moved to Cambridge UK, when I was 12, very different to rest of England

That is because your whole state of Florida is as flat as a pool table. My grandsons moved to Oklahoma. That was their first complaint about the place, it's flat. In California, you can spend the morning in the mountains and the afternoon at the beach. You can see one from the other. Very nice.

I think it was the first time I saw a sunset wide across the sky. I had spent my childhood in a London suburb and the houses were stacked together and when the sun went behind them it was lost to me. Then one day when I was 18 years old I found myself on a hockey field in Singapore and I could see a broad spectrum of sky such as I had never seen before and the sun was setting. I have never forgotten that moment.

seeing the ocean for the first time

I am always at awe seeing and experiencing mountains and beaches. This are the two things that somewhat hard for me to see everyday since I was born, grew up and live in the city. Actually when I was younger, my dream is to marry a man living in the province because it seems like it is nice to be country living.

I don't think I have ever had one. Or I have them so regularly that they're just normal. I get those feelings when I see beautiful sunrises and sunsets, when the Flatlands of where I live become the hills of further inland, when the waves crash against the pebbles in winter, and when people start talking with daft accents the further I travel from home. Also, when I take a moment to look up ... we never look up. We should.

This is a hard one - probably going to our capital city for the first time and seeing so many vehicles, shops and people. It's easy to get distracted looking through photos isn't it?

@moffittjc I see that most people like yourself have used travelling somewhere as there transformative experience but for the life of my I can't think of anything. Or at least, I can't think of anything positive. Not saying everything about me is negative but I've had some tough negative experiences that have been transformative experiences. I won't bring them up but you know some of them where bad things have happened and it changed my look of life but some of it for the good or as a learning tool for my future.

I think it had to be when I was 15 and went to Alaska, all the extremely small towns, some with just one family in them. I couldn't understand why anyone would choose to live like that. Now that I'm older I completely understand, so the transformative experience was delayed in me somehow. I was a teenager and didn't want to be there, I wanted to be home with my friends. I could so live like that now.

I had the experience almost same like you, when i firstly saw,the mountains of Himalayas( often known as house of snow)

My transformative experience was when I saw the desert for the first time. It was the North African desert, a great experience.

When father breathed his last, I knew that I would never see him again.

I had to think a moment, but it was when we moved from Texas to California and I saw the beauty and power of the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I was 15 then and have remained within an hour of that ocean the rest of my life, except for one unhappy year in Spokane, Washington.

I've had several. When I moved from up north to the south it was transformative experience for me. In the south, people are truly friendlier and aren't as much in a hurry. I love this type of life much better. When I married Mike. To make a long story short I never thought or wanted to be married because of growing up in such a dysfunctional family. I decided as a kid I didn't want to spend my adult life like they did, screaming and hating one another. God had other plans for me. I'm blessed. The biggest transformation came when I accepted Jesus as my Lord in 1991. He has blessed me, forgiven me and is continuing to make me who He wants me to be every day. These three transformations are the biggest and the best that I have experienced.