Riding my bike home from a brunch, these thoughts run through my head..."I know I make a left on this street right here. Ok, how far down to I go?....ah, yes, there's the dead dog in the road that I passed this morning so I know it's still a little bit further...right now I remember passing the Area 12 police station so I'm still on the right road, but when do I turn right...hmmm...oh good, there it is the chickens for sale sign, I remember I saw that head on this morning before making a left so that means go right here. Great. Now all I have to do is go up the hill, pass the "Peoples" (that's the name) supermarket on my right and the place that I'm staying has the HUGE satellite dish in the front yard on the right.
Today was my first day riding a bike that I'm borrowing around Lilongwe. I have a good idea of where I'm going most of the time, but usually other people are driving so the directions inherently aren't sticking the same way they would be if I was driving all the time...
Anyway, needless to say I made it home and all is well. It did get me thinking though about finding our way back home and the signs that we follow. In a strictly geographic sense, first there was the leaving of breadcrumbs, the noticing of landmarks, setting up of street signs, and now GPS tracking and Google maps so we'll almost never get lost. It's very efficient. We don't like to get lost. Now that I've made it home today the mystery of the route that I traveled is pretty much gone. What I'm noticing though is that "getting lost" was kind of fun. And truthfully, I didn't even get lost. I just felt like I didn't know where I was for a moment and that much felt like an adventure. Small things. Trust me, I don't originally come from this school of thought. I historically like to know where I'm going, what time I'm leaving, will return, what mode of transport I'm taking. I'm chronically early for things. I'm an American a New Yorker and I'm thrilled to have this work ethic installed within me. I mean after all, (Dad you'll appreciate this) when I was a kid and my father asked me what train I would take into the city, I would say "oh I don't know a 730ish train?..." His response would be, "Well which one? There's a 7:30, 7:38 and a 7:42 that's express so it makes 3 more stops after ours and then directly into the city skipping Jamaica (yeah!!!), saving about 20 minutes." Just fantastic. But I'm not catching a LIRR train today. I was going home from Sunday brunch...getting lost seemed like the right way to get to get home today.
When we move away from our center and adventurously expand ourselves remember that there's always "home"...We all have our own unique version and our own ways of getting there. This was mine today, tomorrow it will change. I guarantee it.
Ad:...it's so important to have that "home base" whether physical or in one's heart and soul....but the journey around it and back and to it certainly can add to it and build upon it.
ReplyDeleteAs to the LIRR train times; I didn't realize you were listening...enjoy the journey !!