Journey - Part 3

I’m always envious of the world traveler who hops on a plane as if it were a NYC taxicab. “Take me to Tibet!” they say, and off they go with a duffle bag packed scarcely with a change of clothes, laptop and digital camera. This weekend on a road trip to Rhode Island, I sat in my driveway for about 15 minutes as if a co-pilot examining our cargo which had been squeezed into our 4-door sedan. Do we have enough diapers? “Check!” “Teething tablets? “Check”. Concluding my mental list of necessities, we finally set on our journey - three hours behind schedule.

Upon arrival at Grandma’s, Alan began his exploration of his new surroundings. He immediately created a familiar anchor that he gravitated to with repetitious play. He discovered a door that opened to a small deck outside of Grandma’s office. Like a doorman, he played “can I open it for you”, at least 3000 times. During the height of the party, he continued playing this game, connecting with people he had just met. His ability to create familiar markers within unfamiliar surroundings was a coping strategy which fascinated me.

Did he inherit this from me? In some ways, he has my intuitive sense of place. I am hardly a world traveler, but throughout all of my journeys (personal, professional, spiritual), I have always sought a connection to place to the point that it is imbedded within my identity. (I may at some point expand upon this)

And while the world traveler dots the map creating a constellation of memories, I embark on new journeys as if creating concentric circles, overlapping and expanding. There is comfort in being rooted in a sense of place, grounded and supported by an inner foundation.

So whether it’s asking a Rhode Island stranger to direct me to the nearest park, or delighting in knowing every crack in the sidewalk within my home town, my landscape continues to take shape.
MORE LATER....