Monday Meditations - Journey

Journey

My parents instilled a love of camping in
me at a young age. That little baby in the
stroller, that's me!

Journey is a word that can evoke a lot of thoughts and feelings. A journey can be physical, mental, or emotional. Sometimes a journey we take is all about reaching a specific destination, yet other times it's all about the getting there. We all take journeys from time to time. Maybe the word brings to your mind family vacations. My family would often go camping when I was a child. To pass the time the car my brother and I would play a game he made up called "open your mouth and close your eyes and I will give you a big surprise." The rules were pretty much self-explanatory. One time when I opened my mouth and closed my eyes he fed me dirt from the floor of the car. I didn't want to play the game anymore after that!

Many times a journey needs planning. I tell my writing students that they should know the beginning and the ending of their stories. The in between is the fun part – at least in story writing. Sometimes the life journey isn't quite so much fun when it involves pain and loss or many other negatives. It's how we handle these in-between's of our journey that count.

One journey I would love to take someday would be to travel to all the Civil War sites/battlefields mentioned in the novel my mother wrote. She passed away before it was published, and I think the journey would help me feel close to her again. It would be even more emotional if my sisters could join me.

What's going on in your life's journey right now? Do you have any journey stories you would like to share? I'd love to hear them. Please share them in the comments.