Write On Wednesday - Discovery

I am looking for the face I had before the world was made. ~W. B. Yeats

This week Becca's Write On Wednesday poses the question What's Your Line? When I first read the prompt, the word FOCUS seemed to jump off the page and my first thought was...oh my, I'm often so ADD that focus is a difficult concept for me to wrap my pen around. Yet, at other times, when pursuing an interest I can become quite intense and unwavering in my quest to know as much as possible about whatever has stirred my passions. So to put a more positive spin on my diametric self, I would say that my focus in Life (and therefore, Writing) is DISCOVERY. I love to discover new people, new ideas, new foods, and new places, whether they be near or far.

This incessant drive to discover is undoubtedly the impetus for my love of Travel. If there is such a thing as a "Travel Gene" then I certainly inherited this from my father. As I was growing up, each summer my family of four (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother) would pile into the family car and take a two-week vacation. Rarely did we go to the same destination twice. Living in the midwest (St. Louis) had definite geographic advantages -- we were almost smack dab in the middle of the country (or so it seemed). By the time I was twenty-one, I had visited all but five States (Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, Michigan, and Oregon being the exceptions.)

My father would save all year for our treks and would start planning them months in advance. Some of my fondest memories of my father include sitting with him as he mapped out routes and places of interest along the way to our destination. But even as I write these words, I realize that I learned a far greater lesson from my father than just the vital skill of map-reading. I learned in a very practical way that the journey IS the destination. Our vacations were not just about arriving at a specified place, they were about discovering and appreciating what was in between. We would often tease my Dad that if there was an historical marker next to a trash can , we'd have to pull off the side of the road to read it.

My legacy of wanderlust is something for which I will always be grateful. Just as we hope that our own children might someday take pleasure in the same things that we enjoy, I realize that in my continued travels my father lives on through me. Sadly, it has become increasingly more difficult for him to travel and I hope that in sharing my own travels and photos with my Dad that I can somehow provide for him some vicarious experiences. And perhaps I love to travel so much because at the root of it all, my fondest childhood memories are of our family vacations. In this sense, I suppose I am running toward home, not away from it.

It's funny how when I began this piece, I intended to focus on the journal writing which I began as a child on our family journeys and how linked my writing has always been to travel and vice versa. But while writing this, I made a new discovery--that my quest for exploring new places and experiences far from home, always circles back to where it all began...at home with family.

Comments

[Annie]

Isn't it lovely where our travels in writing take us. We start with one idea and end up with another entirely.

[catherine ryan]

I enjoyed your response to this prompt. What a beautiful gift your father gave you. I didn't enjoy traveling very much as a child and don't go many places now. I'm much more of a homebody. I wish I did enjoy it the way you do.
I love your photo on the blog header, and the soothing scene for this post.

[Jeanie]

I love to travel, too, and I think writing about travel is satisfying in so many ways! It helps recall the memories, of course but also helps others build good ones as well by traveling along with you! I particularly liked the memories of your father and the photograph is simply stunning -- an inspiration in itself!

[Rebecca Reid]

I love travel too but I like how for you it all comes back to the way you traveled: so much always comes back to family.

[Becca]

I just loved reading this, because it so perfectly describes the driving force behind your beautiful photography and your poetry - that idea of always discovering something new that speaks to the heart in a positive and exciting way. It's why each one of your photos makes me say -WOW! (forgive the acronymistic pun!) I can feel the excitement and joy of discovery in every shot.

You have indeed found your line...thanks for sharing :)