Travel Companions

Beginning a trek that I’ve worried about, muddled about, stewed about, and did I say worried about was started with just one phone call, another phone call, .............basically one step at a time. So when it came time to make the actual journey I built in a couple of fun things to accompany me on this fearsome journey

1.  A train ride - never ridden a train before

Well that’s a lie - did take a commuter train several years ago from New York to Connecticut - didn’t fit my image of a real train ride. In my growing up years, out the window of my bedroom knowledge of trains, was steam engines and long passenger trains that roared through the edge of our small prairie town. We counted the cars, waved at the caboose man - if that’s what he was called. But back to my worries. They’ve been accompanying me quite regularly this last few months, only fading now and then. I should have tried counting them like I counted the passenger cars on the prairies. So far there hasn’t been a caboose, so waving at some unknown tiny person has not been an option. 

2. The next thing I built in is a two night stay at a motel where someone else will make my bed, clean my room and make sure I’ve got coffee to make in the morning. My worries will rest well there, only stirring when I’m awake and out the door - in the shower, in the pool (I’m assuming there will be a pool), having my breakfast, or just walking down the hall.

3. Finally and most beautifully, once my arduous (in my mind) trek has been completed, I’ll stop for a couple of days with my three kids and my grand dogs. My worries usually vanish when I am with them because we love each other dearly. I get my face and glasses ‘washed’ by my grand dog Eva, I get a reserved hello from my grand dog Percy, I get awesome hugs from my kids, Jeffrey and the team of Jason and Corette. A perfect debriefing. (The dogs always come first and it is seldom my choice.)

I have only just tonight reached the second step in this journey. From the bus onto the ferry, the same bus to the train station then a taxi to the hotel. On the ferry in amazing sunshine, I took in a presentation by a Parks Canada employee about some of the marine life in the strait we were travelling along with the environmental benefits from them. But the train. The train was the best part of the trip for me. I felt the rocking and heard the wheels clicking over the tracks, but the best thing was being inside of the train whistle. That was a real warm fuzzy for me. Even though I did choose a hotel the farthest from the train station possible it is righ across the street from a Starbucks and does have a pool open 24/7.

So that is my story about worries. Don’t give them too much room to grow, don’t nourish them with even half of your attention. That always pushes everything and everyone away until one is alone and lost in a very muddy sea where your own personal ecosystem gets stagnant and smelly. Mine is just feeling sleepy tonight.

p.s. - I’m working on my iPad and still have not learned how to get an image attached! 

“That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change, 

but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.”

~ Chinese Proverb