In the meantime, I'm making my way through this bottle of eucalyptus cough syrup I bought from Benedictine nuns in Italy. Isn't the label beautiful... its colors, its asymmetry, its script?
The vinca is blooming outside where I've also seen several pairs of bluebirds (from the balcony, and also during a short daffodil picking excursion). One of the good things about being temporarily sick is that you just focus on resting and becoming well and the kind of restless searching and struggling to achieve that can be part of daily 'normal' life can't be fussed with.
Something that often bothers me is wanting to go away and do more traveling. I haven't been anywhere for two years now, and it feels like a long, long time.
In her memoir Blue Arabesque Patricia Hampl does an excellent job describing what it is that is so good about exploring an unfamiliar place. She writes, "The hunger for wonder is appeased by nothing as it is satisfied by travel. Moving around, being a stranger in a strange land, a located and limited 'I' turned into an uncertain anonymous 'eye'..."
Enjoying and participating in the security and love of family, and living in a community where you know the bank tellers and librarians, and familiars honk and wave when you ride your bike in town nurtures and supports you and anchors a 'place' for you in humanity. Going somewhere you don't know a soul, with open eyes, heart and mind frees up your spirit, awakens your senses, and requires you to interact with and trust strangers, which can renew your faith in humanity. Maybe home is the roast and abroad is the spice... plain roast isn't satisfying, and straight spice can't sustain you... in short, you need both! Anyway, my next chance to travel remains unknown. For now I will rest in bed.
*Yes the cough syrup is old, but still good... it's just that I barely ever get sick, so this is my first occasion to use it!
No comments:
Post a Comment