Written November 27th, 2021 | As I grow older, I notice the desire for closeness, safety, and stability only deepens. Still, I hope to never lose the part of me that calls for spontaneity, novelty, and mystery. I had let it fall dormant in the better part of the pandemic, after the hurt of loss and disappointments crowded my ability to dream, and I hadn’t seen my wide-eyed self for months. Driving off the ramp of the ferry in Port Aux Basques and into this expansive, open, and bleakly beautiful landscape that has never known me brought a full body exhale.
It’s not lost on me how the transitional periods over the last few years have been some of the most precious times of my life - the good and the painful ones too. Settling into a new chapter in Newfoundland has me more attentive and present to myself and my surroundings than I feel I have been in a while, and documenting these days has been second nature in a sense. After 959 solo miles by land & 108 nautical miles, I unpacked my bags in a little house by the sea just outside of St. John’s. Here’s to another beginning.
On Meeting A Stranger
With respect
And reverence
That the unknown
Between us
Might flower
Into discovery
And lead us
Beyond
The familiar field
Blind with the weed
Of weariness
And the old walls
Of habit.
From John O’Donohue’s “To Bless the Space Between Us”
