Hello, Traveler

Hello Traveler,

As you make your way along life’s tumultuous highways, it’s important to note that you should always carry a map, have plenty of fuel in the tank, and take frequent rest stops.
Octavia Spencer, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Help (2012)

The quote was in an issue of O! Magazine dedicated to advice one would share with a younger self. I tore it out and taped it to my bathroom mirror, not sure exactly what appealed to me about it. Was it the artfully rendered illustration of the small compass? Was it the kindly greeting, “Hello Traveler”? I didn’t know, but I knew I liked it, so I left it there on the mirror.

Weeks later I suddenly understood the encrypted message: I’ve been making my way without a map, on empty, without rest stops of any kind.

No wonder it is so hard.

April 26, 2012

Anne

Journey, Woes

grief, loss, Mourning, Mourning, widow, widower

9 responses to “Hello, Traveler”

Wendy Ness

May 24, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-berman-fortgang/declutter-life_b_1536144.html?ref=gps-for-the-soul&ir=GPS%20for%20the%20Soul

Reply
badspeller

May 6, 2012

I have a rose compass, like the one at the bottom of your post, tattooed on my hip so that I don’t lose my way again. I do need some rest stops though. I miss you woman. Hope all is wellish, as opposed to hellish:)

Reply
1. Eve
  
  May 7, 2012
  
  I would like to see that tattoo. I have considered getting a tattoo for the past year and a half, but no symbol appears to me so I wait. But I do like the idea of a compass, especially since I have none.
  
  Reply
Wendy Ness

May 2, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-cara-barker/soul-gps_b_1465228.html

Reply
1. Eve
  
  May 7, 2012
  
  Perfect. Thank you.
  
  Reply
The Librarian in Purgatory

April 27, 2012

Hooray!

Some random thoughts on travelling:

“Unexpected travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” -Kurt Vonnegut

“Not all those who wander are lost.”- J.R.R. Tolkien

While not eschewing them, maps and compasses are primarily useful if one believes they “ought” to be somewhere (else)—the Destination is just a ruse to get you on the Road.

All roads lead to Mordor, thought the closer you get the fewer you will find on it.

Lao Tzu’s End
The Journey
of a thousand miles
ends
with the last
step

Reply
1. Eve
  
  April 27, 2012
  
  O Bookish One, these are lovely. I especially like the Tolkien and Vonnegut quotes.
  
  I must be close to Mordor.
  
  Reply
ChristineZ

April 26, 2012

Grief is a lonely, jagged, grueling, undulating road–even when others are grieving the same person, each person has their own journey to undertake. This, I learned the hard way. As only grief can be learned. And it matters not if you’ve already grieved for someone earlier in your life–it is new over and over and over again.

I’m sorry that you have to keep making this trip. It’s a shitty trip. You said so many kind things to me during The Worst Year Of My Life a few years back, when I had a stroke and my MIL died. Your kindness will never be forgotten, and your kindness imparted strength to me.

I am at a loss and cannot offer any enlightenment and as a fellow human being, I cannot lift your burden off your shoulders as much as I’d like–but know that I admire you for your strength and your tenacity in garnering wisdom through hardship, and then your generosity in spreading your wisdom to others.

Thank you.

Reply
1. Eve
  
  May 7, 2012
  
  That’s ok, friend… you can’t offer enlightenment because you know first-hand from your own griefs that it’s just as you say: each person has their own journey. Nobody goes it with you. People can only be loving witnesses, urging us on, or loving us when we stop altogether.
  
  I’ve thought about you a lot lately as I try to muddle my way back to the blank page. It’s not easy to come back to that after big losses and lifechanging events, is it?
  
  Reply