These Days

I've been thinking a lot about Ireland lately. About the trip I took there two years ago. It might have to do with having a friend who loves, loves, loves St. Patrick's Day and all things Irish. I now own a green shirt and have a new found love of corned beef, thanks to her. I think it's more than the recent celebration, though.* And my thoughts wander from Ireland to Switzerland. I would like nothing more than to lie down in a field under the mountains. Breath deeply a thousand times until I fall asleep.

Full disclosure? I need a break.

I need an adventure. I need a new perspective. I need a surprise. I need splash, a shake-up, a strip-down.

In Ireland, I learned to call-out these needs. As needs. They start as a thought, grow into a desire, and become a need. A necessity. For my life.

We landed Ireland with a lot of baggage. Rather, I landed in Ireland with a lot of baggage. I landed in Ireland with baggage other than the shoe variety. I landed in Ireland a bit raw. As though I had showered with sandpaper each day for two years. Exfoliated down, rubbed down, sanded down until it cut and hurt. He gave me this gift, a gift of travel that became a gift of healing.

We landed in Ireland at 5am to fog and drizzle. We walked through the airport to collect our baggage. When we picked up our bags at baggage claim, mine felt so much lighter. Already. Amazing what a cross-atlantic flight can do. When we walked out into the early morning air, the mist felt refreshing on my skin. The sun would break through, I didn't have to worry. I didn't even think of worrying. About anything.

We had sunny days in Ireland. Mornings that arrived easily, two feet over the side of the bed and up and out. Hostel showers short or cold, but all part of the experience. We walked and talked and met people and took photos and learned and went and went and went until the very, very end of the day arrived with sweet dreams before our heads even hit the pillows. Tired felt refreshing, comforting, clean, cool, and crisp. Mornings felt refreshing, comforting, clean, cool, and crisp. And so it went. With golden days.

Ireland infused me with its energy. Switzerland gave me its perspective. Oh, those mountains. Always, for me, it has been mountains. I am nothing at the base of mountains. I am nothing at the peaks of mountains. I am nothing. Thankgoodness I am nothing.



The realization comes with a wave of freedom. A rush of freedom. Inviorating. Truth. Perspective. The world looks different from the base, from the peak. But I am still nothing. Thankgoodness I am nothing. And that is the biggest change in perspective. We traveled along the bases, we made our way to the peaks, we wandered in the valleys. And so it went. With crystal clear days.

There was more, of course. There was so much more those two weeks. But the energy. And the perspective. Those are things I can't find with a lens and a shutter. Those are things I can't find most mornings, these days.

These days. Oh, these days.

I need a break. I need an adventure. I need a new perspective. I need a surprise. I need a splash, a shake-up, a strip down.

I need something these days, not days from now.

And so it begins...

*I wrote this post a week or so ago