It’s a little after three in the morning and the rooster just started crowing. There is a cacophony of sounds here. As it gets dark the coqui frogs start to serenade us. Then early in the morning, the rooster starts up and a little later he is joined by more birds singing their songs. This morning it is raining. The sounds surround me like a blanket.
As I sit in this cottage in the wee hours of the morning I am filled with joy. I am traveling for a reason other than medical. Traveling for pleasure had almost become a thing of the past. Something I had become nostalgic about. For five and a half years my travel was mostly medical with some business trips scattered in. Then there was a pandemic and travel was restricted by governments around the world. Now those restrictions are being gradually lifted.
When the orders for lockdown were put in place, I thought things wouldn’t change much for me. They really didn’t as I would go out and feed twice a day and I would go out for necessities like horse feed and groceries. It was a time of adjustment for sure as I would try to make sure I did those two errands on the same day.
John came home for spring break and didn’t go back, and I wasn’t living alone anymore. In-person meetings were shifted to Zoom and getting on an airplane was discouraged. Even after a year, with some restrictions being lifted flying to Hawaii was no small feat. We had to have negative Covid tests prior to leaving the mainland. When we arrived if one wasn’t fully vaccinated, they had to have another test. It seemed redundant.
I had forgotten how much travel meant to me. When I was in high school, and the spring rodeo season started again I reveled in the feeling of being on the road. This still happens when I haven’t traveled very much. Then I get months like May when I went to Missouri to visit a friend’s farm. Almost immediately after getting home I turned around and went back to Lawrence to help John. A little over a week later I went to Denver to help with a breast cancer survivors’ program. I was home for two days and off to Denver to fly to Hawaii. I will enjoy being home and that feeling will wane for a few days. Then wanderlust will strike again.
On Sunday we went to the farmer’s market where I bought a pair of earrings with the symbol for new beginnings. I was told that I need to set an intention and they need to be blessed by the water. The next evening, we drove across the island to have a nice dinner at a beachfront restaurant. As we drove, I noticed two mile markers that each had the number 11. Another sign of new beginnings. At dinner, while my companions were talking, I got a message from Mike. I don’t normally get these directly they usually come through someone else. Then we went for a swim in the Pacific where I let the water bless my earrings. Now I’m excited to see where my new beginning will lead me.
I didn’t feel like the pandemic would change me. I live in an area where we didn’t see many cases. I was wrong. I wanted my freedom to travel.
After having to wear masks and not being able to go out many of us will have emotional baggage that needs to be purged.
What do you need to purge in your life?
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Onward!
