Boarding Other People's Lives

    Consider living in eight states.   You pick up an interest or a hobby.  You take a class or join a club.  You serve on a board or open a studio.  You begin a new job.   You join a parish.  And then you meet people.  All sorts of people.  People who steal your heart, people who break it.  People who stay on your mind, people who get on your nerves.  People who bring out the best  in you and people who bring out your worst.  People who freely give, people who freely take. 

    Always different, yet somehow the same.  And the people come and go, countless and fleeting relationships built and abandoned, because you are the intruder, the outsider, the newcomer and they may no have room for you.  But you do not weep at this because you know, that if you remain patient, and have a heart that sees, somewhere in the sea of strangers there is one, or if you’re really lucky two, who will take you by the hand and call you friend.

Maybe we are all [Beth’s, ] boarding other people’s life journeys, or letting them hop aboard ours.  For a while we ride together. A few minutes, a few miles.  Companions on the road, sharing our air and our view, our feet swaying to the same beat.  Then you get off at your stop, or I get off at mine.  Unless we decide to stay on longer together.

from Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey
by Rachel Simon, Houghton Miffin Company,© 2002

  

Taking in the View

I'm taking a siesta from blogging this month. Instead I am offering a list of some of my favorite spots from the many places I've lived in these United States.


NEW JERSEY:  A quaint little town called Basking Ridge - because MaMa lived there and everyone loves their grandma.

OREGON:  Sunset over Coos Bay and the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology

PENNSYLVANIA:  Easton - because I loved being a student at Lafayette College, because I married Steven there and because after a few years we moved back.  "Old Orchard" - because my kids were little here and the grandparents lived nearby and we had great neighbors.

DELAWARE:  Rehoboth Beach in the 1980's because we were staying with friends who are still friends to this day.

ALABAMA:  Look up.  It's just like the song says "[where] the skies are so blue."

INDIANA: The State Park System, particularly Turkey Run and Shades, where I first put my wild-flower identification skills and that college botany class to good use.  Our circa. 1890 home on Wabash Avenue.

TEXAS:   Anywhere during the spring where the bluebonnets and the Indian paintbrushes bloom. Palo Duro canyon in the Texas Panhandle: breath-taking beauty and rich history.  My postage stamp pretty home on Tonkawa Lake.

NEW YORK:  The Finger Lake region for the obvious: gorgeous, crystal-clear lakes and an abundance of wineries.  Also the Skaneateles Festival (held throughout the month of August) with its world-class musical offerings.

MISSISSIPPI:  still looking for the blessing.....it must be here somewhere.