Aspirations and Adventures...

I have been dreaming lately...

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living," Miriam Beard

I first time read this quote it resonated deep in my memories of all my travels. In my last big adventure with John, traveling across North America, taking it in with our sidekick Natasha, a change happened deep with in me. I found that this change that occurs when traveling didn't happen on the trip but later, in reflection. I realized a change when I look back on the trip, flipping through the memories, the familiarities and longing for the people and places we became familiar with. It is the fondness and day dreams that I have almost daily of that time in our lives when I know a change has happened deep inside me. I brought all kinds of creature comforts along on the trip, familiar objects that I thought would bring me solstice. We got sick of tripping over, moving, sleeping next to, and living with this "stuff." These things that I thought I needed and later found to be extraneous were given to people, shipped backed home, or trashed. I didn't need these objects, clothes, belongings. The things I needed to have with me at the time were so simple: relationships and myself. Now I can say the hardest part of traveling is bringing yourself along. When I was forced to deal with myself daily, no distractions, routines, or obligations watering down my existence. Honestly, I broke down, there were times when I could not deal with the reality and honesty. This is was a time of growing, healing, and maturing (or so I would like to believe). There were the other times, when life was so simple and so pure that I could hardly contain myself. These moments of true bliss are when we know we are alive. The reason that we want to pursue life and continue to dream. Each experience shapes and prepares us for the future.
When I came back to this quote a day later its meaning had changed for me. I now define my travels in a different way. My travels at this time are not ones that cross the continent but ones that explore the local area in which we live. The travels in the Chuckanuts, Galbraith, and places that are in a days distance from our house. These travels can be just as grand, just on a different scale.
As long as we are open to new experiences, thoughts and places, our travels are endless and limitless.