Traveling: an opportunity

We will be traveling again.

So much of my life is spent traveling internally. It is a personal mission and/or gift and/or compulsion (I'll let others decide which!) to review and mull over and wonder and ponder and seek to link this thought to that event, and that feeling to those experiences... Somewhere I've come to believe that we all ARE connected, and that my past is part of my present, and as much as I wander around unconsciously, my future is being built by my unremembered past, not by my conscious and best-foot-forward present.

So to pack a bag and head out with tickets and itinerary in hand is a delightful adventure! An opportunity to focus on the outside, on newness and reflections unusual to the me who loves being at home or close to home in the atmosphere of friendship and familiarity shared with friends.

Once I get beyond the packing worries, I'm eager to go, eager to see new sights, eager to have distance between me-now and all the lovely things that call my attention when I'm home. Yes, the never-ending lists of unfinished projects and half-hearted intentions. I won't miss them while I'm away!

Traveling is an opportunity to trust. In order to actually leave home, I have to trust that the people identified to take care of home life will successfully do so! I have to trust that I will survive the travel and the stay in another town, state, country... I have to trust that we have the travel documents and the money and the airport connections and the good health to carry on with these plans without fear or delay or disappointment.

Traveling is an opportunity to discover new aspects of myself. How can I know if I will like or abhor the activities we have planned until I do them? How can I know ahead of time if the smells and sounds of a foreign culture will nourish some untouched part of my soul, or make me cringe? How can I know how I will be effected by the colors and the shapes of indigenous plants and animals?

Traveling... sometimes it takes me hours to get organized to go buy cat food in town! But a trip into my mind or a trip into my heart -- those are instant and always available. I can travel light, and lightly, and am always ready to go there. I usually travel alone into my interiority but over the years have learned who to invite along on an adventure with me.

Traveling is an opportunity to read. I love 'losing myself' in a good book. Nothing to distract me! Nothing more important to do while waiting for a flight or while relaxing on a bus ride. All exits are closed. I can't return those phone calls. I can't clean the winter boots. I can't check on the ewes, wondering if they look ready to lamb. I can't reconcile my checking account. I can't stitch up the tear in my colorful summer jacket. Traveling is a respite opportunity!

OK, so now I really should go pack. We are leaving first thing in the morning...