12.12.12

I hadn't realized that today's date had any significance to anyone apart from being an easy date to remember. I guess some people think it had some sort of apocalyptic side to it. I've been concentrating too much on the end of the world festivities on December 21, 2012. How is one ever to keep up with all these doomsday prophecies?! I don't actually think that the world is ending but it makes you think about what you would do if you had limited time. Apart from the obvious desire to be with family, I revitalize only with travel. Thankfully my family loves me enough to let me go in search of my new adventures even with the possibility of impending doom.

Perhaps it is fitting that I am sitting on a plane en route to my favourite city in the world. Melbourne. It's my third time flying there in the last five years. Amazing. Crazy. Heart-bursting. I can't put into words what this place means to me. I've tried and people don't get it. Those who knew me before Melbourne were surprised with the post version of me. I came alive in my one year there. I learned that I didn't have to be the people pleaser I had been amongst my family, my friends, my coworkers. I was shy and supremely self conscious. I gained confidence and a voice. Perhaps that's what "running away from home" or going off to "find yourself" is supposed to do.

I flip back and forth on what this visit will bring. First and foremost it will reunite me with some of the best friends a girl could ask for. I'm sure I've said it somewhere on here before but it's not like I did anything spectacular while I lived in Melbourne (or maybe I did) but it's still the best year of my life. Very few things bring out the emotion I have when I talk about my memories here. My greatest fear is that I'll be heartbroken all over again when it's time to leave. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I look forward to the highly needed break, my walks through city lane-ways in search of graffiti where my obsession began, a summertime Christmas season with friends, another trip down the Great Ocean Road, perhaps even another tattoo. Bottom line, I'm in search of the "sparkle" I've been told has been lost over the last couple of years since I left. No pressure!

With love from 30,000ft in the air, drama queen out.

dear lo...

I have found recent inspiration, through the words of my friend Lee Anne, to step out of the usual routine and notice things around me. Sounds like an obvious thing but I know I don't do it, do you? I walk the streets of Toronto with my own purpose and generally avoid all eye contact. The faster I can get to my destination, the better. But for what?

After a night of crashing at my brother's apartment, I turned to walk the opposite way that I normally would to make my way home. En route I saw a sign for a book exchange. I had somewhere to be but I was drawn in to the cramped space guarded by a woman in her late 60's.The smell of dust on the shelves almost had me turn around but I caught the glimpse of a cover to Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach. On the cover, "The Travels of an Independent Woman". On the inside, the worn out ink stamp showing that it had travelled from The Island Book Nook in Sanibel Island, FL. I don't know how many hands have held this book or how long it took to make it to me, but I knew there was a reason that I was drawn here.

In her travel memoir of a trip to Europe, Alice shared memories of her trips to each city through a postcard. A postcard to herself. You may laugh at the idea but I share this tradition with Alice. There is a new memory in every new place that I want to capture and share at the same time. Having it show up in my mailbox weeks or months later allows those memories to flood back. My wanderlust had faded a little but reading her words revived that permanent travel itch. Until I have a new destination, Alice's words will keep the imagination flowing. I love that I found someone just like me.  So happy that I was finally paying attention or I wouldn't have found this gem!