I leave Friday for the East Coast, specifically Maryland where this whole life journey began for me. I find it strange and interesting that at this point in my life I am being led back to a place where it all began once upon a time...
Truth be told, I love my home state. It is diverse in its topography and culture. And this trip, I will not only be on the outskirts of DC but also out to the Eastern shore. A place I love and miss.
Do not get me wrong, I do not want to move back to the East Coast, too much cold and wet for me. I have become a Californian for sure. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a part of me that misses the place that launched my life.
I am looking forward to spending time with friends, working with new people and creating something new with people I care about and trust. It is such an interesting plot twist, that I really didn’t see coming.
I love that life is always full of surprises but really is so predictable too. Seems like everything flows in concentric circles, moving there or over here but always overlapping returning us to places that we once called home, thinking we forever left those behind, only to find that while we may have been done with a particular place and time, the universe has other ideas.
I am sorry I missed Fall there and have no delusions that the landscape will likely be mostly barren and without color, regardless I intend to soak up the charm of the landscape, the rolling hills, the quaintness of the people and architecture.
I went to the beach with this same friend shortly before I left the East Coast in 2001. We stayed at her beach house and spent time just relaxing and having fun. One morning I woke up early and went out to the beach alone. I was treated with the most marvelous dolphin show I have ever seen anywhere. They were leaping and diving and spinning and doing all sorts of intricate things. I was the only one standing on the beach to view.
While I know it wasn’t likely about me at all, it felt like it was. It felt like my entire East Coast life was being hailed and regarded by these intelligent creatures, as I made the beginnings of a move Westward to a coast that was foreign and vast. So funny to be returning here now.
I find myself wondering what it means, this particular loop of this particular circle. It is somewhat exciting not to know, but to know that I will be granted a perspective shortly that I currently lack. Kinda like how life does that...
For now, I am looking forward to the trip, the cold weather, the road trip to the beach at the dawn of Winter. It all just feels good and right and next.
I have no idea what I am doing in this life but I am increasingly grateful for how it unfolds...and honestly, grateful to be along for the ride.
