I was looking at some of my pictures from my recent travels to CA. I have spent time in the cities, at the beach, in the mountains and in all of those "in between" places...you know, the ones that are not your destination, but are the journey through which treasured memories are discovered. And I was looking at the pictures I take around my own stopping grounds, here in VA. Here too, I have the ocean, the cities and the mountains....and I live in one of those, "in between" places.
What struck me was the feeling of "home" I have experienced in my recent travels, and certainly, the greatest feeling of home comes from the people who welcome me as family, knowing I am three thousand miles from my home. But there is another connection. The simple country roads. One of my friends snapped a photo as I was leaving in the rental car, heading to the airport, away from CA and back to VA, and it struck me that the road to their place is a simple dirt road, much like my own, certainly a little steeper, and a little longer, with more twists and turns, but familiar in its dusty, bumpy, sameness.
Looking at the photos and and reflecting on the memories also brought to mind a couple of songs. John Denver's Country Roads (Take me Home) was an obvious one that jumped out at me, but the Beatles' Long and Winding Road was also in my mind. And in both songs, the message is about coming home, home to a place of comfort and familiarity.
In my case, the country roads, long and winding, dusty and bumpy are reflective of my own travels through life and I know I like them better than the smooth tarmac of the super-highways. It might take some time to get where I'm going, and I might have to dust myself off a time or two along the way, but I will experience the beauty that is so often overlooked, and I will be "at home" with people who also share my love of those "in between places."
"The long and winding road that leads to your door,
Will never disappear -- I've seen that road before..."
Leaving CA
Home in VA
From Sea
To Shining Sea
And all those in-between places.....
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