new places

"when she comes out at night..."

Even across the long distance line i can feel her preparing for flight. She is restless and speaks of Charlestown.
Charlestown, South Carolona?
Charlestown, South Carolina. Confirmed.
She desires the beauty of discovering a new place. Of coming to be in a new place. Of gaining a new sense of place. She is ready to move on: becoming someone new, improved, and eventually finding loss in who she used to be & the missing people she used to share a space with. She is ready to start from scratch. We are ready to miss what is so familiar.

What if I sold everything but my musical instruments? he asked me.
Even your computer? I ask.
Even my computer.
Ah, impossible! I tell him.
He agrees.

New sunrises appear in my rear view mirror as I head west at 6:45 a.m. The highway has become part of my morning routine. And remember Megan & me conquering my fear of the highway? We drove all the way to Oakbrook and back again. A total of 30 cent tolls. I love highways now. I use them in my metaphores.

Evanston was my perfect sense of place, I told her, until the accident. But it is still my retreat & I can find so many loves on Sherman Ave or in the basement of Panera bread. In February Melissa and Marius came home and I reclaimed my hometown, Herrick lake, Jefferson St, & even dared the downtown (with the comfort of pearls). I think of John toiling in Europe- thank you John for the posty of "Koln am Rhein"- and Elizabeth in Prague holding onto her travel journal wrapped with Thomas's belt. We are finding our new places. When we experience them, every sensory is heightened & carrides seem magical & we wake up in the morning alert.