Pages to Paths

It’s after midnight, and I have just finished my fourth book in four days. I love to read, and yet, it’s a bit too much. My books have taken me many places, the last one wavering between Seattle and Tacoma, with it’s own lengthy drive to Nevada. It’s fitting because I have always wanted to travel to Seattle. Most people think of Seattle with rain or rock music or coffee… and I probably am also thinking of a combination of all of those things.
Right before I got into graduate school, I was planning my own trip. A solo adventure. I had been living at home for an exorbitantly long time and had just realized that I had slipped from the comfort of home to being suffocated at home. I applied to a bunch of schools, and then started my plans to see the world. I debated between Seattle or Austin or Nashville. I wanted to be somewhere where people were creating, where they were buzzing, where they were alive. Then I got into school and chickened out on a big adventure because I was moving thousands of miles from home, I was getting out.

Four years later and I have realized that there are many different kinds of traps, and most important are the ones that we put on ourselves.
That’s the important thing about travel. It forces open your mind, holding your eyelids apart and allows you to see. Going somewhere unknown means you have to read new signs and need to ask for help or work for the research for new finds. You have to leave your knowns and your familiars, and become something else. And if you are ready in just the tiniest way, your whole life can change.

I’m ready to approach a trip and put a twist on some of the places that I have always wanted to see. Before I wanted to go to the major cities of states I have never been to, but now I want to really settle in and explore the little moments of life in other states. In Oregon, I want to go to the Crater Lake National Park and see the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean. After living in the middle of it, I want to see it from every angle, be able to appraise it at every level. I also would love to go see Forks, Washington to the cool and somewhat creepy beaches that I have taken away from my forced Twilight viewings. Some may have seen the love triangle or vampires, but I was staring at the rocky beaches and eerie oceans. I feel at peace near any kind of water.
This year I have challenged myself to read 150 books, and I am on the 63rd book. I am reading fantasy, adventure, and hope. I am awaiting my chance to shine.