Today – September 8, 2014 marks 8 full years of wandering the globe nomadically for me.  It’s a special day that I like to stop and think about where I’ve come, how I’ve changed, and where I’m going.  However I’m not going to reflect upon that here as it all needs time to resonate.  Instead I choose to celebrate the act of wandering.

Wanderer

This poem was given to me during my position as the Keables Chair at ‘Iolani School:

Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
wanderer, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.

By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing back
one sees the path
that must never be trod again.

Wanderer, there is no road –
Only wakes upon the sea.
–Antonio Machado

I loved the poem and it immediately took me visually back to many of the places where I wandered. My memories of wide open spaces, epic journeys, and the places on the globe that have become a deep part of me.  So I celebrate my 8 years with a lovely glass of wine with friends, and memories of wandering the globe.  These images from scattered ends of the globe immediately give me a feeling of wandering.  People moving around the globe realizing that it is much much bigger than our brains can comprehend.  It’s that feeling of connection to the earth and sky and contemplating your place somewhere in the middle.  It’s a place where we stop and take a second to breath and take it all in.  It’s simple, mellow, contemplative.  It’s not even important where they are from – it’s about the feeling they evoke.   And when I look at them as a whole, I can’t help but rejoice in my 8 years of wandering.