I like to travel very much.
I’ve had an atlas in my car for the last twenty years [the atlas lasting much longer than SO many cars, actually], and I sharpie in the newest road I’ve taken whenever fresh pavement finds me.
It is magical to know
that every body of water
brings its own feeling of peace,
and that awe can be truer and truer
with every mountain’s perspective
you get to stand tall in.
There is something nostalgic
about history that you can feel
in places you’ve never been.
And while I’m not trying to question it, as it is one of my favorite feelings to have… just between ‘doing nice things’ and ‘so spicy your eye-circles sweat,’ I do wonder how newness always seems to transform a willing spirit. Not for now though. Maybe we’ll get there later.
In any case, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. There’s an Avett Brothers song with a line that really gets me: “Disappear from your hometown, go and find some people that you know. Show ‘em all your good parts, leave town before the bad ones start to show…”
I almost never leave in time.
So while there is so much magic in seeing all the things, I have to admit I’ve often been running from or trying to get closer to… something. As a giant fan of putting in the bright spin, I can honestly say that I haven’t NOT been chasing joy. I’m so optimistic that maybe all that I need is over there. Or no, okay. Maybe over here.
I am, if we’re being real here, the actual human version of Buridan’s ass.
This paradox says that a hungry donkey placed equally between food and water will be frozen by indecision, and eventually starve to death. This is me. Never choosing to choose. I’m not starving though. I am fed by many things, many people, many places, most of all my own uncertainty, my unwillingness to settle, and my constant surprise at what I’ve picked for today. It’s not the worst.
Wherever I go, I always find good people to share the time with, and beauty to fawn over. I imagine we’ll talk about that here. People and places, and stories of both. We’ll see what happens…
