Ready or not… [#its5oclocksomewhere.]

Tags

3, 5, adventure, car, decision, heart, journey, leap, month, oclock, road, somewhere, summer, trip

June 8th. Friday. 5pm.
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My car is pointing South and I’ve been on the road for several hours already. The wipers slide across the windshield, clearing my vision of the tiny droplets of water this mist has left behind. The rain is an odd paradox to the beautiful sunshine that continues to shine down on me. Peeking up through my open sunroof, the light warms my face and the gentle mist falls on my skin. And I smile.

This is it. I’ve been preparing for this trip – adventure… escapade… jaunt… vacation… whatever you want to call it – for quite some time now. And, here, right in front of my eyes, it’s happening. I glance back over my shoulder and see the giant backpack and suitcase that are accompanying me on this 3 month journey. Back home my goodbyes have been said, my affairs have been brought into order, and now my trusty road atlas has taken its rightful place on my passenger seat. The next three months I will be hanging out with my family, spending time living out of a trailer parked on my parent’s street, road tripping all over the United States’ southwest, camping, hiking, hanging out with friends, reading, writing, and overall just giving my heart room to breathe. Room to just, be.

Did I lose my job, you ask? Experience a recent traumatic event? Lose a meaningful relationship? Face a life-altering and terrifying crossroads? Epically fail at something profound I had attempted?

Nope. To all of the above. No friends, this 3 month adventure is not a response to a negative and/or disappointing set of circumstances. It isn’t a last-ditch effort to improve my life. I’m not running away from something I’m afraid of. Believe it or not, my life “back home” is better than ever.

This adventure is something I am doing simply because I want to. Because I asked my heart, “What do you want to do?” And then I made room for the answer. I planned and saved and bought and sold and made the decisions necessary to shift the momentum of my life in this particular direction. And then I stood on the edge of the beautifully terrifying and wildly adventurous cliff I had created for myself, I breathed in deeply and summoned all of my courage and zeal, and I jumped. I took the leap.

And as I head into the dawn of my little adventure, I pray that you would do the same. That you’ll have the courage to ask, to really and honestly ask, your heart what it desires. And then be brave enough to make room for it’s answer. And, last not but least, when the timing is right, to take the leap.

Because you owe it yourself. And you owe it to this beautiful and glorious experience we call life.

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“Tell me, what is it you plan on doing with your one wild and precious life?”
– Mary Oliver

“May you live all the days of your life.”
– Jonathan Swift

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“Don’t let someone steal your tenderness…

Tags

5, affect, Deschanel, experience, five, hard, heart, influence, life, oclock, quote, randi, somewhere, steal, strickland, tender, tenderness, Zooey

Don’t let someone steal your tenderness. Don’t allow the coldness and fear of others to tarnish your perfectly vulnerable beating heart. Nothing is more powerful than allowing yourself to truly be affected by things. Whether it’s a song, a stranger, a mountain, a rain drop, a tea kettle, an article, a sentence, a footstep…feel it all – look around you. All of this is for you. Take it and have gratitude. Give it and feel love.

– Zooey Deschanel

I love her, and I love this quote.
#wordstoliveby

I think the ability to affect the world, and the people, around you – and to be affected by them – is one of the greatest honors we have as members of this beautiful family called humanity. The fact that another person can influence the person that I am – wow. I consider it a privilege.

Life is a grand adventure and Humanity is gorgeous; Our interaction with both is meant to be communual. We are made to rub off on one another. And we begin to become inhumane the moment we isolate ourselves and fail to see the humanity happening right in front of us.

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steeple of stone. [#its5oclocksomewhere]

Tags

5, drive, driving, five, golden, grass, highway, light, mountain, oclock, pass, peak, randi, ridge, rocky, shadow, shrubs, somewhere, spring, strickland, sun, sunlight, sunroof, tree, valley

April 21st. Saturday. 5pm.
………………………………………………….
The sun breaks through the clouds and throws it’s filtered light into the valley to my right. Trees are scattered across the ridge I am following, but the hills below are littered only with small shrubs and tall grass. I make my way west, following the sun as it moves across the sky.

As I climb higher and higher, completley out of the valley now, I follow the route that’s been carved out for me through stone and snow, and blaze my trail across the mountain pass. Golden light falls across the ancient momunments that surround me on every side, and their large shadows are cast across the highway. Stealing a glance up through my open sunroof I catch my breath. The larger-than-life peak of the mountain is literally right there, and I wish I were a passenger so I could reach out my hand and skim the rocky surface laying just beyond my reach.

I can’t imagine being any closer to this steeple of stone and I think about the way something so massive can make me feel both finite and empowered in the same breath. And in each case, always making me feel connected.

What an honor it is to share this gorgeous planet with brothers made not of flesh and bone, but of leaves and water and stone.

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sacred solitude. [#its5oclocksomewhere.]

Tags

5, city, five, lake, mountain, oclock, randi, silence, solitude, somewhere, spring, strickland, sun, sunroof, sunshine, view

Friday. April 20th. 5pm.
…………………………………………
I ease my foot off the gas and let my car slow to a steady crawl as I wind my way up the mountain. Joggers and walkers and grandmas with their grandkids and pet owners with their dogs. All making the steady accent to the top with me. It’s a goregous spring day and my sunroof is wide open. I look up, over the rim of my sunglasses, and let the sunlight roll over my face.

My friends thought I was running a quick errand and returning in 20 minutes to the coffee shop when we were all gathered. But that was before I found the side road with the sign, “To the top of the mountain” at it’s entrance. Who can pass up a sign like that? And why would you want to?

As I round the final curve to the left and pull into the gravel parking lot, the view is already well worth the spontaneity, and I haven’t even gotten out of my car yet. Coming to the limp rope that marks the edge of the parking lot, I step over it and find a large, flat rock, warmed by an afternoon of baking in the sun. I cross my legs and take a seat, wondering about the countless others that have done the same. The sun still sits high in the sky, and below me the valley shines like a bowl of diamonds – bright light reflecting off of windows and signs and the tops of buildings. The city sits on the banks of a large lake, and the water lays lazily in the warmth of the day. I close my eyes and realize, though the city looks so large from my perch on the mountain, I can’t hear even one of it’s sounds from way up here. Instead, the birds nested in the trees behind me create the soundtrack for this moment, as they mix with the sound of running shoes on pavement and the purr of slow-moving car engines and of two friends laughing together at they walk further up the trail.

Sitting there with my eyes closed I smile, knowing there’s not a soul on the planet that knows I’m here right now. And for some reason, that makes me feel even more connected to this place. Like my presence here is a secret that we share. I take in the details of this moment and add it to the catalouge of experiences that shape the person I am, even though they aren’t shared with anyone but myself and the earth beneath my bare feet.

And it is perfect.

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sometimes life doesn’t need a commentary. [#its5oclocksomewhere]

Tags

5, ambulance, baloon, biker, bird, boy, coffee, commentary, cyclist, five, life, oclock, randi, sidewalk, somewhere, strickland

Thursday. April 19th. 5pm.
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An ambulance drives by. I can’t hear the sirens because my headphones are in, but the flashing lights are a dead giveaway. A cyclist has dismounted from his bike and sits at one of the tables outside. One by one, several others join him and I wonder if they realize how silly they all look, wrapped in tight bright yellow clothing, walking awkwardly on special shoes that makes their toes sit several inches higher than their heels, and still wearing their helmets and intense biker sunglasses. Seriously, they look ridiculous – are they aware, I wonder? Walking by on the brick-inlaid sidewalk, a rough looking gentleman, maybe in his 60s, carries a bag full of cans and pop bottles and stops at every pay-parking machine checking for unclaimed coins. When he stops to talk to a young woman, sitting and smoking alone at a table, she just laughs and he keeps walking.

The sky is quickly changing from pale blue to dull grey, but the constant stream of people outside my window doesn’t flinch. Beyond my music I can hear the prevailing sound of coffee grinders, and the smell of the freshly broken beans keep me from forgetting where I am; like a salt stick waved under my nose, unconscious thought remains impossible. The trees that line both sides of the street are wrapped in lights and their white twinkle is becoming more and more visible, as dusk slowly prepares the way for evening. A group of women, and one man they seemed to have dragged along, go power-walking by, dressed to the nines in Lulu Lemon and talking as fast as they’re walking, while the man just smiles and nods. Walking in the opposite direction, a little boy tags along behind a group of grownups, his eyes lifted to the blue balloon he carries with him, the string clutched in his tiny hands. Birds fly in lazy circles overhead and I wonder what the view is like from up there.

Today I have lots to see and little to say.
Sometimes life doesn’t need a commentary.

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