Unplanned travel and lessons
There are many times we travel for necessity, rather than exploration and expansion. Some one needs us far away, and we go. We are all motivated by curiosity, this is why some of us travel, the need to learn and expand, but I truly think most of are motivated even more so by love and the need for connection with our tribes. In the last few year we have had these pulls to places under extenuating circumstances. And I am grateful that I have my other half of to go with me, I am also grateful for my chosen family and my brother.
Quite a few years ago my parents, as many of our parents do, chose to move down to warmer climates, choosing St. Pete Florida to be their new home to enjoy their golden years. As we do when we shift our homes, they built their lives, bought an amazing home and a boat and had fun…for a while. My initial experience of St. Pete was love! Pretty, has a pretty decent art scene, and some good restaurants, hell Jack Kerouac even lived here! And my kids and I would venture down repeatedly. (Stay tuned for a future blog post about the cool sides of St Pete) Flash forward about a decade and my dad grew ill, and my trips down there were not as fun, time spent outside was minimal, and worry was maxed out.
But it is in these times that we find strength and we find appreciation for the time that we do have with people and even the old parts of ourselves that we find resurfacing when we are dealing with parents and the baggage that we all carry from growing up. I came to call Florida the Underworld for this reason, like in the myth of Inanna in which she descends into the underworld, to face parts of herself to heal. Peeling away layers of herself to find her truth. This is truly one of the things that we experience when faced with terminal illness in our loved ones. We revisit the relationship, we show up, we reconnect with family members, some that we may not have seen in ages, and we practice grace, patience, and love. And we breathe….These trips offered me the blessing of showing up for my step dad, who truly always showed up for us (and showed us the world, and logic and always just thinking). These trips gave me time with my brother that we don’t usually get to talk and support each other, which I am always grateful for. Like his dad, he is a great man-loving, honest, fair, a great dad and he shows up.
These trips also give up comic moments, like the incredibly drunk single serving “friends” that were seated next to me on one flight home. It was noon, they confessed they were already 6 drinks in cause they were away from the kids so why not? They quizzed me about what my carry on was, the husband fell asleep, the wife had more drinks and then told the people on the plane how they should all deplane! I am grateful for the universe’s balance and sense of humor!
These trips are a part of life, sadly its not all fun and martinis, but these times are a part of life, a part of the balance. And they are part of what makes the human experience amazing, and deep and love filled. It is in these feelings of loss that we realize how blessed we were to have these people as part of our karmic experience. The loss reminds us of how deeply we loved these folks, and the ability to get where we need to for the people we need to is also a blessing.
