9.28.12

chanterelle murder

the days slide by so quickly lately.  suddenly i realized with some surprise that the two year anniversary of my gypsying has come and gone and i didn't even notice.  it's been over two years of new homes and no home.  i've lived in tents and trailers and farms and towers and cars and ranches and beaches and mountains and woods and hills and countries all over the world.  i've learned how to drive a stick shift on both sides of the road, how to gut a shark, how to ride a dirt bike, how to dive for abalone, where to find chanterelles, how to shoot a bow, how to kill a chicken, how to grow all sorts of things and so much so much more.  
 

i find myself sinking into a deeper level of comfort with the madness of this life on the road.  i’ve learned more than i ever suspected i would.  i’ve loved harder and laughed harder and horrified myself and terrified myself and truly begun to love myself as never before.  maybe that is partly from getting older but I suspect that if I hadn’t started wandering i wouldn’t feel so comfortable in my own skin.  because really with this many detours and destinations it is the only home i have.

one thing i’ve learned in traveling, as in life; things don’t go as planned.  you may have to change direction at the drop of a hat, leaving your plans by the wayside.  don’t become too attached to your old path.  just know if you’re meant to get there, you will and that life’s detours are almost always the delicious surprises, or soul-strengthening trials you’ll remember most as shaping the whole damn trip.

try to be excited about where you’re going, even if you didn’t plan on going there.  some people may not realize it, but thrilling over the unknown is one of the sweet emotions journeying offers up in it’s crystalized form.  it’s not to be feared but embraced.  so often in the routine life our expectations play out pretty accurately until something big comes along and upsets the balance. but in the traveling life almost every expectation finds itself crushed, twisted, let down or exceeded.  the traveler may continue along bewildered, wondering why at every turn things don’t go to plan.....  forget the plan.  enjoy the forgetting.

i hope i see you somewhere wild sometime soon and until i do.  i love you.