Side Walks
Interacting with history, memories and the modern muse from a contemplative platform
55 MPH
55 mph seems unusually slow nowadays; once it was the norm. If I happen to come upon the tail of a 55’er, I’m certain to voice, “Unbelievable! Ridiculous!” I press the accelerator to pass on by, looking rudely over my right shoulder to glare at the driver clearly living in the past. I’m 55. By old standards, perhaps it’s time to start slowing down. Then why write a book and start a blog, speeding my life up to at least 80 mph, my new norm?
Mom said, “You need to live a little.”
As a young professional, I contemplated becoming an author and public speaker. I had so much to offer, so much to say to inspire women, well at least women in their teens and twenties. I mentioned the possibility to my mother and she said, “First you need to live a little.”
So l lived a little
With a deflated ego I responded, “Maybe you’re right,” and dropped the idea altogether. She was right, as mom’s usually are. So I lived a little. And that “little” was actually “A lot!” As a creative person with a big imagination, I pursued several pathways into the future. I learn by doing. I learn by watching. I learn by failing. And through the process of painful neural pruning, I learned by living.
One day, she stepped off the sidewalk…
In my book, “Side Walks: One Woman’s 30-Year Journey to Discover Her Roots and Find Her Way Home” I begin with a poem in which I describe the familiarity and comforts of living as a child at a home with sidewalks. Stepping off the sidewalk becomes a metaphor for my coming of age and the onset of a journey in which I must reckon with past and present realities.
In this monthly blog
I continue the journey through new discoveries and old recollections, with a contemplative voice, one that seeks to make connections, expand empathy, and express honestly. And maybe I’ll learn that driving 55mph is not such a bad idea.
Congratulations on your new journey!