I was sitting in a bar a couple of nights ago.. (I’m sure you have read this from me many times – but bars are one of the places that a lot of life is being made, and I like to go take a piece of that when I can. Week nights are the most delicious ones. – once all the happy hour crowd is gone, they bring the life in beautiful plates, and everyone who is present gets a piece – and there’s never a line or hungry crowd of the weekend).
Anyway… I was sitting there reading the night away… and this dude comes and sits next to me, and after a few minutes of silence we start to chat. He was wearing a jean jacket with lots of punk rock style patches and a newsboy cap. He moved to DC 9 months ago, and has a sweet southern accent and lots of wit to go with it. He has moved 23 times in his life and he is in his mid 30s and now works for a sake distributer.. real cool dude… Jess didn’t know much of my story nor I cared to share much, but he can pronounce my name perfectly from the first try! He also taught me a southern slang, and would crack up every time I used it..
We talked and drank and I listen to his travels. I did not tell him much about my travels and that I have been bouncing around for the past 11 years since I was 16 besides a few hint here and there.. I wanted his story.. I knew mine… We talked on bunch of things and laughed a lot… but at some point he said something that touched so closely to what I have been thinking – he said “Once you start moving this much, I guess you cannot stop”
I have been struggling with the question of belonging, and been feeling the pressure of the norm heavy on my chest… but ah to give yourself to what you live..what a relief that is… I’m here and have no plans of leaving… but if the road is gonna take me somewhere again… I guess I’ll go with it… That one line plus my thoughts around my recent trip to California is bringing me back to loving the road again.. Oh everything is much more beautiful when you don’t have a tight grip around it… the way I do the road is slow waaay slower than many travelers I have met.. but the journey has not ended for me, and who knows it may never end… whatever comes, I welcome them, and you – I too live my life in widening circles!
Rilke
Book of Hours, I 2
I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.
I circle around g*d, around the primordial tower.
I’ve been circling for thousands of years
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?
One Poem At A Time 