Wanderlust

I’ve always envied those who travel a lot. Well, not just those who travel a lot, but those who travel as a lifestyle. Oh, to just get into the car (or, in my case, a VW Bus, which I find even more exciting and adventurous) and go. Planned or unplanned…I don’t care. I have always thought the unplanned trip would be more of an adventure than a planned one. I can imagine putting a spinner atop a map to decide which way to go. Go in the direction the arrow points and don’t waver. Keep going until something tells you to stop, and then do the spinner thing again. I bet you would end up in unexpected places.

I have never just gone on a trip without a plan or without knowing where I was going. It is something that I had always wanted to do, but haven’t done to date. On the road, Kerouac style; going and going ala Easy Rider; cross country on an Incredible Journey. Not knowing the destination and arriving in an unexpected place. I suppose I could have done this many years ago. I could have taken off and explored this county, this country, this world. I could have done this before finding love and all that goes with it. But I didn’t. I didn’t and that is that. Do I regret it? I could say that I do. I don’t regret getting married, having children, having a job to go to every day. I do regret not having seen more of this great big world.

Back when I was still in elementary school, I was selected from a group of kids in my church school to attend a Pan American Camporee in the countryside of Mexico. Thousands of kids from South America, Central America, and North America gathered at a huge campground several hours south of Mexico City. I felt privileged to attend this event. Never before had I been out of the country, let alone fly on a jet plane. I think I was twelve years old and the world was this huge thing that needed exploring. The campground was just huge. There was a soccer (futball) stadium where we had meetings and even watched a game, and a giant pool with a 3-tiered diving platform. I remember climbing the ladder to the second tier and thinking it was just way too tall. I jumped anyway and it seemed like I was falling for 5 seconds. That doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you are falling, it seems like a lifetime. We got to visit some pyramids, stay in a swanky motel in downtown Mexico City, visit with some locals, and get a taste of local culture by attending a traditional wedding. Although I may never go back to Mexico, I will always remember my time there.

Several years later, I took a trip with my high school band to Jamaica. Wow. I will never forget that trip. It was my second time in a plane and the second time out of the country. We stayed in the dormitory of a university. Different cultures bring different tastes. For breakfast, we had warm milk and cold coffee, but every day there was fresh fruit on our plates. The people in Jamaica, at least the ones we were exposed to, seemed to be nice people. Little did I know of the poverty of the small villages. The rich were really rich, and the poor were dirt poor. I think we were shielded from the worst places. I remember going to Ocho Rios, where Dunn’s River Falls is located, a popular tourist attraction. It was there that I first heard the phrase “No problem, mon” repeated over and over. It was also there that a friend and I bought some of the best weed I had ever seen up till then. A man standing by a huge tree had a display of paintings that he was selling. While we were looking at the paintings, he asked if there was anything else we needed (he was putting his fingers to his mouth in a “joint-holding” fashion). Of course, this got us interested, so we said we were. He removed a painting from the tree that hid a panel cut out of the tree, opened the panel and inside were the biggest buds I had ever seen. I think that we only spent about $20 for a bud the size of my hand. That bud got us high, but it also got us in trouble. Little did I know that a girl I was trying to impress by giving her some of this killer weed, on the night before we were to head back to the states, would try to smoke it in the bathroom of the dormitory, get caught, and promptly name my friend and I as the ones who gave it to her. I was not happy about it, because I was being oh, so careful, and got into trouble because of someone else. Even though I got into some trouble, I will never forget my time there either.

Then there was my honeymoon to the Bahamas. Good times. I won’t go into it because the happy memories there make me sad…there were trips to Maine and New York. Again, good times. Trips to Florida beaches and Disney World. Good times. But the one thing that all these trips have in common, from Mexico to Florida is that they were all planned. We knew where we were going, what we were going to do, and where we would end up. There was a little level of spontaneity involved, but for the most part, events were planned. There’s nothing wrong with that; order is good. It has been said that it isn’t the destination that’s the most important; it’s the journey along the way to the destination that matters most. Unexpected things happen along that journey.

Life has order laced with a lot of uncertainty. You think you have it all planned out, then something hits you and throws you into a loop. Right now, I am being bombarded by uncertainties; by unexpected things. I don’t know where the destination will be where I end up. Life is taking me to unexpected places. These places may not be where I had planned on ending up, but they also might be the right places where I was meant to be. I just have to believe that things happen for a reason, that life isn’t fun if it a rigidly planned out trip, with no side journeys or unexpected places ahead or in the rear view mirror.

I have a camping journal that I keep record of places I have camped (thanks D!) I only got it this past Christmas, so there are not a lot of entries in it, but one of the latest entries is profound to me. Someone who I had just met wrote something in it that defines a life that is less than boring. What she wrote was this:

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside totally worn out and proclaiming, ‘Wow, what a ride!’”

I haven’t led a life that leads to skidding in broadside into anywhere. I don’t think I am looking for that sort of life. But the sentiment of living a life full of adventure sure does appeal to me. I want more out of this life than just living. I have reasons for loving life, my kids, my friends, my family, past and future lovers, and enjoying being myself. But I know there is a whole lot of living out there that I haven’t lived. There are lots and lots of unexpected places to end up. An unplanned life sounds all right to me, although it may be just something that is found in movies or books…or perhaps in the mind of a dreamer.

I heard a quote that made me think of this entire theme behind this writing, and I heard it in an unexpected place. I heard it in a movie that I had rented for the kids called “Snow Buddies”. Yes, yet another sequel to the Air Bud series, only this one has the litter created in an earlier movie ending up in Alaska and running in a sled team…and winning the race against experienced Huskies, by the way. One of the native pups, I believe was part wolf, and the quote came from an old wolf who was giving advice to the young pup. I am not a fan of these movies, and I find it odd that this quote gave me chills when I heard it. I even had to rewind the movie to make sure I heard what I thought I heard…

“Remember, life will take you to unexpected places. But have faith, and you are exactly where you need to be.”

I have faith. I think I am ending up in an unexpected place. But maybe it is exactly where I need to be.