Revisionary

Butterfly Haus, Texas April 2005

Reading through old journals slides past the tick-tick of clock hands as silently as flipping through old photo albums and random pictures. Much of it is as ordinary, and boring, as housework accomplished, how happy or worried I was, or just doodling and spinning a story or poem. (By the way, all this reading of journals and looking through photos really and truly are acts of decluttering the mounds of stuff facing me.)

Today, reading in Feb. 2007 I found a list. Not a grocery list, or list of chores but a fantasy list. “Let’s see. What are all the things I would like to do - fly a helicopter or a plane, in that order, cross country ski in a quiet plain, ride a bike down a country road, ride in a hot air balloon around the world ~ a rainbow coloured balloon, Where are all the places I’d like to go ~ to the sands and pyramids, walk across Ireland and Wales, do a pilgrimage across Europe in Uncle Horace’s footsteps in WWII…..”

Reading of these long forgotten dreams this morning, my first thought ~ and second thought ~ was ‘Impossible!’  And, truthfully, some of them may be, at face value are impossible. But creatively, there are ways to at least modify them to fit. I have flown in a plane but have yet to fly in a helicopter. Cross country ski ~ I’d have to plan a winter trip to the prairies for that one. May be possible. May not. Riding a bike down a country lane ~ not likely so I’ll have to think about it. There is a hot air balloon festival in New Mexico every year. That would be a great trip to plan. As far as the places I’d like to go ~ reading, watching documentaries and maybe even planning trips in the future will aid me in my quests.

Our dreams and fantasies, tucked in the background of our pasts, when unearthed and revised, are still alive renewing a long forgotten desire to travel. 

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Author's note: Edited April 04, 2024