Just Keep Driving

I suffer from a condition known as wanderlust (if you can call it suffering). I've had it my whole life. I thought travel was the cure, but as it turns out, it only feeds the disease. The more I travel, the more I want to travel. And the more I see, the more my curiosity is peaked and I need to know what else is out there! I have spent a lot of time in the car - well, in many cars, many rental cars. When I drive, I see other ways of life, worlds so far removed from the one I live in, and it makes me wonder what it would be like to live like those people. I remember as a child, looking up at the huge high-rise apartments, imagining the lives of all the different families, who made there homes there, above the hustle and bustle of the city. I imagined what it would be like to be one of those people. I remember seeing the Soldiers in the news during desert storm, living in tents in the sandy wasteland of the Middle East, and thinking about what that must feel like - residing in a war zone. During our 3 week cross-country road trip several years ago, I saw farms and wide open spaces and considered whether that would not be better than suburbia. Well, over the years, I have had the chance to live in a city (in a high-rise apartment), in the country, in a hotel for months on end, in a war zone, in a military barracks, and in the Caribbean. Though I enjoyed each of those experiences for what they were worth, they were never quite as good as I had imagined. I still faced times of loneliness, depression, uncertainty, and the daily struggles of life. The landscape is always so diverse, changing from state to state, city to city, and even country to country. But what I have found is that anyplace can look perfect from a distance. It is when you get out from behind the windshield that you can see the flaws and imperfections. The longer I remain in any given place, the more I notice its shortcomings, and the more I long for greener pastures. It seems there is no remedy, except maybe to just keep driving.

C. calls this the Joshua Tree... I drive past it every day on my way to his apartment.

I love this old, run-down shed... so typically quaint... one of C-ville's many beauties.

RR tracks in Charlottesville, VA

A rainbow on Long Island (not something we see frequently there)