Gratitude for Travel...

I am not a good stay in one place person.  I am also not happy if I do not have a trip planned.  I need to go, often.  It doesn’t even really matter where.  I mean, if it is a trip, I wanna go.  Although the older I get, the more I want to travel to solitary and desolate places, to get out of the fray and away from all the commotion.  I want to be in nature, taking in this beautiful, amazing world, away from all the people.  But offer me a trip to Chicago, London, Paris or NYC, I am going every single time.

I have written this before, I gain access to parts of myself that I seem to lack when I am at home.  There have always been two of me: the introvert and extrovert.  I wouldn’t even claim ambivert because I am not a blend, I am quite literally two completely different people.  One needs space, solitude and quiet, the other one needs loud, fast and hard.  And so far, I have not been able to reconcile myself any more than just acknowledging that I am just two very different people in one body, soul and mind.  It is not easy to live with, or date, or love but it is who I am.

So travel is what I crave.  I need to see the things and visit the places.  I need to go and the destination is almost immaterial.

Tomorrow I leave for Big Sur which is one of those places that grants me a special kind of access to myself.  My soul and chakras align and buzz differently there.  I am not sure why, I just know I have always felt this way.  If I ever win the lottery, I am buying a place on that mountain, and will live out my days there in quiet, peaceful repose.

I have loved sharing it with my daughter.  Showing her all the special places and amazing sights.  Tomorrow, I get to do this with my mom.  She has never been.  And a week from tomorrow she turns 80.  And it is a place she has always wanted to go.  I am so excited to show her the beauty, grace and vistas of Big Sur.  There is no place else like it on earth, except well maybe Lorne-Queenscliff in Australia.  That place is very similar and I felt the exact same way when I was there that I do when I am in Big Sur.  Weird.

I can’t wait to get there tomorrow and I can’t wait to share it with my mom and my daughter’s boyfriend who has also never been.  I hope it touches them in the same way it does me.  I hope they are dazzled and amazed.  But even if they aren’t, I will be.  And I am so grateful for that.

I have a gypsy soul.  Wandering is just part of the deal for me.  There is almost no greater pleasure than the open road, the wind in my hair, music playing loudly and great expanses of landscape in front of me.  I can’t wait for that to be my present moment tomorrow.  The road calls and I must answer.

I pray that as I age, my travel longing doesn’t wane.  I do not want this love affair to end.  I may not be lucky in love, but that has not slowed down my wanderlust.  I am not even sure that traveling with a loved one is better than solo travel.  I enjoy both, but the freedom and peace I feel when in solitude and roaming, is a feeling that I can’t quite duplicate when another is present.

So excited for Big Sur tomorrow.  And grateful to be able to share it with the ones I love.  Happy to get my mom out of Ojai and away for a bit.  She has worked so hard these last few years taking care of my dad, grateful to be able to give her a break.  To allow her soul to unwind itself a bit, to get lost in the great expanse of the Northern California coastline.  To take in the smells, and sights and allow Big Sur to change us.

And I think this is what I love most about travel, it is who I become and how it changes me.  Always for the better, but not without pain.  Pain is the touchstone of all spiritual growth.  And I like that particular lesson best when I am surrounded by beautiful places that grant my soul access to parts yet undiscovered.  Travel for me is about discovery and exploration and that moves in concentric circles inward and outward.

Again, still...

I am grateful for

A lovely birthday dinner with the girls

Laughter

Sparkly tops that brighten my day

Kittens

Big Sur tomorrow!

Good days at work 

A card from Elizabeth that made me cry (in a good way)

Sunshine

How well my heat works

My mom

A day with Grace

My life as it is today