.JPG)
i guess i’ve always been a wanderer. staying too long in any one place for any length of time is hard for me. a gypsy in some prior incarnation, i’m certain i was. so, true to form, i recently took a little road trip a to visit one of my best gal pals, josephine. i desperately needed to smell a new city, cast my eyes upon things i’d never seen before and most of all, drive. my mission: to wander, to ramble a bit, to be lost and absolutely nowhere for a little while. i took the long way. i listened to music: beach house, interpol, fiona. dark and moody. i thought long and hard about the place i was driving away from and about things my mind had conveniently chosen not to think about because they hurt too much. i reached houston with a heart that had been wounded, but a heart that was healing.
i was happy.
…
josephine and i set out on a thrifting adventure bright and early the next morning. she was excited to show me all of the good spots in her adopted city and i was glad to have new thrift shops to haunt. almost immediately after arriving at our second store, i came upon a random assortment of vintage maps. i remembered maps like these from the summers of my youth – my grandparents would take me on long trips across the US and in the glove box these maps would live, stuffed haphazardly, never to be folded correctly again.
aren’t our lives a bit like that? like maps that have roads set out before us, clearly marked, ready to be taken? but what if…we don’t? what if we don’t take those specific, clearly marked roads in life? what if we are wanderers? what if left and right and right and left don’t make sense to us? what if we long to travel on paths that have not yet been created? what if do and don’t and no and yes aren’t part of our vernacular? what if our particular road doesn’t fit neatly on the page? what if the maps are all wrong?
my mother has always said to me, ‘lisa, always take the high road”. of course i know what she means. but my high road and your high road might be different. where i choose to roam may not be where you choose. your place of enchantment may vary vastly from mine. but that’s okay. if you see somewhere you need to go, go. i’ll understand. if you can’t see the path clearly, even better: wing it. make a new one. and if you feel lost, use your heart to guide you back to where you belong – it’s what we gypsy wanderers use all the time.
for c.
©littlebrownbutterfly
To adventure!
katie! to adventure, to life, to love!
i love maps & life & getting lost!
Seems an interesting life travel adventure wondering from place to place. I completely understand the draw it has. But to have long deep roots to come back to. To have the place where everything is familiar. That is to me priceless. A home base that you return to before the next adventure. This little town is my home base, long friends good drink never having to watch your own back. Sure I wish to just run away, get away from the familiarity and find a new place that no one knows me. I sometimes wish I had your courage, your beautiful spirit, yet I do not. In the end we all have our greener grass so to speak. I wish for you to find the greenest grass so no other can compare. xoxo
lee – so sweet. thank you for your insight and for YOUR beautiful spirit… xx
anonymous – whoever you may be…thank you for reading, thank you for being.
l’chaim!
this is lovely! i love road trips too
thank you, nanette…i’ll roadtrip with you any ‘ol time…