The Journey
I have never been much interested in the actual date of my birthday. The days come and go and along with them my birthday comes and goes with the ebb of life. It is not that I dread birthdays. I just do not pay much attention to a particular date on the calendar. To me it has always been about the journey rather than the actual date of my birth. The path taken or the path not taken. The people you meet or the people you wished you had never met. And then there are the people you desperately want to meet. I have always been much more concerned with the joy of that journey rather than the date of my birth. I have also shown little interest in knowing my age. When I am asked I often have to do a little mathematical calculation between my year of birth and the current year. Once again I do not dread it or purposefully ignore. I just do not keep track of it. But this year I keep being told that it is the BIG 5-0. It seems to be a milestone. I am happy to have reached it.
So when I was asked this year what I wanted for my BIG 5-0, it seemed logical that it would be a journey in itself. Today we strike out even further into Canada's North to re-visit some of my absolute favourite places. There is no real destination. It is about the journey. A road traveled 23 years ago that remains colourful and vivid in my mind. A hotsprings where I met the most interesting character who had wandered out of the mountains for his annual bath. A bunkhouse that sits on the shores of a rushing river that I have not seen in 16 years. These are all part of my 50 years of journey and part of my memory and I would like to go and visit them again not to see if they are the same and to see if they match my memories but to see what changes they hold. Because after 50 years the one thing that I have learned is that change is a constant and it can be a very good thing. The ability to take another path, meet a different person and have a different experience takes big energy but it can also lead you on a whole new journey that is wild and wonderful. I am looking forward to revisiting this old journey because I know it will be a new journey in many ways. My younger companions are not babies anymore. They will actually remember the trip I hope. And my older companion has a different energy just like I do and I think we will see new and delightful sights with our new energy. I think the wisdom of age will help us to amble on this journey more than our younger more energetic selves. There is no destination on this trip beyond being back here in two weeks time. And while I have an idea of where I would like to go, I would also like to think that my fifty years will give me the courage to choose a new path if needed, and to slow the pace and just breathe and let the journey take me where I need to be because when you change direction who knows what you will see along your journey.
So when I was asked this year what I wanted for my BIG 5-0, it seemed logical that it would be a journey in itself. Today we strike out even further into Canada's North to re-visit some of my absolute favourite places. There is no real destination. It is about the journey. A road traveled 23 years ago that remains colourful and vivid in my mind. A hotsprings where I met the most interesting character who had wandered out of the mountains for his annual bath. A bunkhouse that sits on the shores of a rushing river that I have not seen in 16 years. These are all part of my 50 years of journey and part of my memory and I would like to go and visit them again not to see if they are the same and to see if they match my memories but to see what changes they hold. Because after 50 years the one thing that I have learned is that change is a constant and it can be a very good thing. The ability to take another path, meet a different person and have a different experience takes big energy but it can also lead you on a whole new journey that is wild and wonderful. I am looking forward to revisiting this old journey because I know it will be a new journey in many ways. My younger companions are not babies anymore. They will actually remember the trip I hope. And my older companion has a different energy just like I do and I think we will see new and delightful sights with our new energy. I think the wisdom of age will help us to amble on this journey more than our younger more energetic selves. There is no destination on this trip beyond being back here in two weeks time. And while I have an idea of where I would like to go, I would also like to think that my fifty years will give me the courage to choose a new path if needed, and to slow the pace and just breathe and let the journey take me where I need to be because when you change direction who knows what you will see along your journey.
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