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Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Warmest Place

Vantage Pointe at sunset.

Another year has passed. It is winter again. As weather always does, this darker sort affects my mind. Pennsylvania moves slowly, like a half-speed video replay. The cold, dry air and the silence and stillness can be absorbed like a sponge in a puddle. One can go into the woods, all trees naked of leaves, and if that one were to sit down and wait, it would be as if time stood still. Wind through branches and the movement of clouds would be the only cues that this was, indeed, consciousness. Venture to the roads and nothing will keep one from reaching their destination when intended, save for the occasional tractor or horse & buggy using the road. One lane is all that is needed to navigate the twisty, wooded, hilly roads of the peaceful, unmoved countryside.

And so the short yearly trek is made. But upon arriving back in the new, developed and populated West, it is not without a sense of loss and detachment. Despite all the opportunity and culture that is borne from such a place, something is also lost. When everyday life involves less, it somehow becomes more. When every desire of the foolish heart is so readily available, it is quite simple to get lost in the details. When one has much, they have little to gain. But when one has very little, they have everything to gain.

And so when one has lived in the three significant modes in this far-reaching country (rural, urban and suburban), one's heart cannot ever be settled. One can more quickly attach and detach to the ups and downs of those areas. When something is less than perfect in the present place, the former place can be viewed with longing eyes. A few days a year (weeks if one is lucky), this nomad can be truly content with where he is. At any other given moment, the longing for another place can take hold indefinitely.

So one must learn to get the most out of life where they are. It will not be perfect at all times (in fact, it's not guaranteed to be perfect at any times), but it must be accepted as a necessary part of one's life nonetheless. Relationships are what will always matter most, and those can be made anywhere one goes. When one reflects on the best times of one's life, it will not just be the setting, the looks and smells and sounds and feels, but also who that one was with that defines that moment.

So near or far, loud or quiet, surrounded or alone, busy or still, be content. It will not be this moment when one realizes how happy they are, but when one reflects on the moment. And the warmest, happiest places on earth will always be in one's memories.

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