Six months into recovery from chronic back pain, I journey to Edinburgh, like its native son Robert Louis Stevenson, "to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly."
Marissa, thank you for that greatest of compliments about the narration since it is very low-tech, recording just to my computer microphone, no fancy equipment. Yay! I love that you have strong roots to home in a specific place but still embrace your wanderlust!
Amy, you've left me much to think about place and home. "That might appear an aimless way to live, unsatisfying to those who crave one place to call home, but it needn’t be." I've always thought that my feelings of not belonging anywhere were due to moving and changing schools every year or two, always the painfully shy new kid who didn't fit in. But after my birth father discovery led me to therapy, I realize there was much more to my feelings of instability and non-belonging than moving. If I hadn't experienced a couple different childhood traumas, or if the moves were done with more purpose than because we couldn't pay rent, perhaps I would have felt differently about home.
Because of my childhood experience, we've lived in the same house since my eldest started preschool. Yet now that I know more about myself, I want to be a wanderer too. I love your take on home!
Tracey thank you for this thoughtful response and I do get how that instability and moving growing up informed your ideas about home when you began your own family. I suspect you have plenty of wandering years ahead of you if that’s what calls to you!
I really resonate with your at homeness in wandering. Such a rich life of varied experiences of home you've created. To be at home in ourselves is probably the most secure form of home I could imagine.
Thank you Nicole; it’s been a gradual journey to be at home within myself and still at times I lose my way. I know you’ll enjoy relate to that, my friend. There’s truth to that phrase: where ever you go, there you are.
Amy!! I remember our conversation about this topic of home and belonging, so I loved reading more about this here, as well as travelling vicariously through you to Edinburgh! I am happy to read that your travel now is more about “the search is less for self than for wonder, beauty, resonance and the reminder of my inviolable place within the human family” I aspire to get there one day. I am certainly a sucker for beauty… :) I have travelled through much of my twenties, trying to find my place in the world, and to a degree, escaping routine, “normality”. Today I really crave a base, from where I can travel when I feel like it. This is why I’m so eager to finish renovating my apartment in Budapest. But to be perfectly honest, Italy has been calling for me pretty much since the first time I watched a Fellini film. I have not given up the dream of creating a yoga-writing centre there. Slowly working my way to make that happen and enjoying the journey.
Imola, I've been dreaming of creating a writing-hiking retreat in Italy, but all the steps to make that happen seem so overwhelming to me right now. You've got some exciting projects in the works!
Imola, I am so glad your own wandering this summer led you to Barcelona so I could meet you in person. I understand what you mean about having a base, from which to spread your wings. And I love that idea of a yoga-writing Centre in Italy, I can totally see that happening for you one day & I’ll be the first to sign up!
Reading your reflections I’m reminded how thoughtfully you organised your stay, mixing people, places and experiences to max the wanderer vibe. And I’m so delighted we could share some of those impressions and refresh the strands that connect us.
Fran, refreshing the stands that connect us was the highlight of my time in Edinburgh; thank you for hosting me; I’ll always cherish those memories of spending time together in your beautiful city.
What a lovely post! I've been too intimidated by the crowds and number of events to ever think about going to the Fringe Festival--I'm glad you enjoyed it, and impressed you were resilient enough not to be overwhelmed!
I love this idea of "the wanderer"--I think it's so powerful to name different aspects of ourselves. Some things, we'll never know where they come from. But being able to identify and define "home," that is...maybe that's what wanderers are looking for, really. But then again, you've done so and you're still a wanderer, so maybe wandering is just an aspect of self, the ghosts of our hunter-gatherer ancestors seeking the new, seeking space, seeking the horizon.
Rebecca, what a lovely and thoughtful comment, I appreciate it. And do try the Fringe; you can pick & choose and make it your own customized experience.💗
"When home is rooted within myself, I am never lost."
Home is a concept that invites introspection. It's not as simple as it appears from the outside - and I realize how guilty I am of placing my own experiences on everyone else when it comes to defining "home". Both my husband and I grew up moving around from country to country due to the work of our fathers, so when it came to selling the house our kids grew up in it didn't feel crazy to us. To our daughter, though? It was a ripping out of home.
I'm intrigued that you, having grown up in one place as a child, have this more internal sense of home as opposed to it being tied to physical location.
Nica, thank you for your thoughtful comment. We all have different concepts of home don’t we? I think it’s amazing your family is making their home on a small sailboat, which must mean you’re anchored (quite literally) in one another as family, above all. As for me, it’s true that my own wandering path is carved from some yearning inside me, perhaps that I was born with. My siblings have more or less remained rooted in one place their whole lives.
Oh my friend, yes, yes to being a wanderer and seeker of wonder. I resonate so very much with your post so vividly written; I could see, hear, smell and feel Edinburgh, a city I enjoy so much! I hope one day to visit during Fringe. The Abby Wambaugh show is coming to NY reading your description, now I plan to go! As for traveling and moving, similar boat here. 30 countries so far in travel and I don't even know how many places I've lived in these nearly 50 years. I enjoy people, I enjoy culture and new experiences. Very much looking forward to experiencing Badalona with you and finally the Inside of Sagrada Familia too, plus whatever we happen upon. yes, my friend, wander and wonder! <3
So glad you enjoyed reading about my travels & appreciate my fluid sense of being at home in the world (which is how I raised my daughters too). It is true the world would be better off if we all shared the same openness to differences across borders and cultures.
I love reading about your travels and wandering adventures. I’m so glad to hear you feel well enough physically to be out, as you say, in your home in the world - on foot wandering and wondering.
Your words always feel like home to me, Amy. 💕 While I haven’t traveled nearly as much as you, we share the same seeking spirit within us.
Thank you for reading, Allison. Always lights me up to connect with you & yes especially on our shared Seeker spirit, wondering and wandering where ever life takes us.
Amy, I can't wait to wander again, and maybe to do a little wandering with you. Thank you for writing about your trip to Edinburgh, I was ever so curious and would love to be able to go. Big hugs, Francesca xx
I just listened to your story through your narration while reading it. And it’s as if we were on the phone together.
I think I fall somewhere in between number two and number three. I’ve had many places to call home, but still have the traveling bug too.
Marissa, thank you for that greatest of compliments about the narration since it is very low-tech, recording just to my computer microphone, no fancy equipment. Yay! I love that you have strong roots to home in a specific place but still embrace your wanderlust!
Amy, you've left me much to think about place and home. "That might appear an aimless way to live, unsatisfying to those who crave one place to call home, but it needn’t be." I've always thought that my feelings of not belonging anywhere were due to moving and changing schools every year or two, always the painfully shy new kid who didn't fit in. But after my birth father discovery led me to therapy, I realize there was much more to my feelings of instability and non-belonging than moving. If I hadn't experienced a couple different childhood traumas, or if the moves were done with more purpose than because we couldn't pay rent, perhaps I would have felt differently about home.
Because of my childhood experience, we've lived in the same house since my eldest started preschool. Yet now that I know more about myself, I want to be a wanderer too. I love your take on home!
Tracey thank you for this thoughtful response and I do get how that instability and moving growing up informed your ideas about home when you began your own family. I suspect you have plenty of wandering years ahead of you if that’s what calls to you!
What a wonderful story of travel and culture. I love reading about your adventures.
Thank you Mimi💗
I really resonate with your at homeness in wandering. Such a rich life of varied experiences of home you've created. To be at home in ourselves is probably the most secure form of home I could imagine.
Thank you Nicole; it’s been a gradual journey to be at home within myself and still at times I lose my way. I know you’ll enjoy relate to that, my friend. There’s truth to that phrase: where ever you go, there you are.
,
Amy!! I remember our conversation about this topic of home and belonging, so I loved reading more about this here, as well as travelling vicariously through you to Edinburgh! I am happy to read that your travel now is more about “the search is less for self than for wonder, beauty, resonance and the reminder of my inviolable place within the human family” I aspire to get there one day. I am certainly a sucker for beauty… :) I have travelled through much of my twenties, trying to find my place in the world, and to a degree, escaping routine, “normality”. Today I really crave a base, from where I can travel when I feel like it. This is why I’m so eager to finish renovating my apartment in Budapest. But to be perfectly honest, Italy has been calling for me pretty much since the first time I watched a Fellini film. I have not given up the dream of creating a yoga-writing centre there. Slowly working my way to make that happen and enjoying the journey.
Imola, I've been dreaming of creating a writing-hiking retreat in Italy, but all the steps to make that happen seem so overwhelming to me right now. You've got some exciting projects in the works!
Maybe we should join forces? ;)
We should talk!! I'd love to hear about what you're planning/dreaming.
Anytime Tracy!! Feel free to reach out!
Ooh, I love this so much! So glad the two of you found each other here and I can totally see a Tracey-Imola duo making this happen. I'll be there!
Imola, I am so glad your own wandering this summer led you to Barcelona so I could meet you in person. I understand what you mean about having a base, from which to spread your wings. And I love that idea of a yoga-writing Centre in Italy, I can totally see that happening for you one day & I’ll be the first to sign up!
Reading your reflections I’m reminded how thoughtfully you organised your stay, mixing people, places and experiences to max the wanderer vibe. And I’m so delighted we could share some of those impressions and refresh the strands that connect us.
Fran, refreshing the stands that connect us was the highlight of my time in Edinburgh; thank you for hosting me; I’ll always cherish those memories of spending time together in your beautiful city.
What a lovely post! I've been too intimidated by the crowds and number of events to ever think about going to the Fringe Festival--I'm glad you enjoyed it, and impressed you were resilient enough not to be overwhelmed!
I love this idea of "the wanderer"--I think it's so powerful to name different aspects of ourselves. Some things, we'll never know where they come from. But being able to identify and define "home," that is...maybe that's what wanderers are looking for, really. But then again, you've done so and you're still a wanderer, so maybe wandering is just an aspect of self, the ghosts of our hunter-gatherer ancestors seeking the new, seeking space, seeking the horizon.
Rebecca, what a lovely and thoughtful comment, I appreciate it. And do try the Fringe; you can pick & choose and make it your own customized experience.💗
"When home is rooted within myself, I am never lost."
Home is a concept that invites introspection. It's not as simple as it appears from the outside - and I realize how guilty I am of placing my own experiences on everyone else when it comes to defining "home". Both my husband and I grew up moving around from country to country due to the work of our fathers, so when it came to selling the house our kids grew up in it didn't feel crazy to us. To our daughter, though? It was a ripping out of home.
I'm intrigued that you, having grown up in one place as a child, have this more internal sense of home as opposed to it being tied to physical location.
Nica, thank you for your thoughtful comment. We all have different concepts of home don’t we? I think it’s amazing your family is making their home on a small sailboat, which must mean you’re anchored (quite literally) in one another as family, above all. As for me, it’s true that my own wandering path is carved from some yearning inside me, perhaps that I was born with. My siblings have more or less remained rooted in one place their whole lives.
Such an interesting comment about being anchored together as a family! I hadn't thought about it in that way. Thanks <3
Oh my friend, yes, yes to being a wanderer and seeker of wonder. I resonate so very much with your post so vividly written; I could see, hear, smell and feel Edinburgh, a city I enjoy so much! I hope one day to visit during Fringe. The Abby Wambaugh show is coming to NY reading your description, now I plan to go! As for traveling and moving, similar boat here. 30 countries so far in travel and I don't even know how many places I've lived in these nearly 50 years. I enjoy people, I enjoy culture and new experiences. Very much looking forward to experiencing Badalona with you and finally the Inside of Sagrada Familia too, plus whatever we happen upon. yes, my friend, wander and wonder! <3
Wander & wonder together in Barcelona: can’t wait for that! In just one week!!
You have left me breathless with envy and admiration Amy! If only everyone could think of home through your lens, it would be such a better world 🌎 💚
So glad you enjoyed reading about my travels & appreciate my fluid sense of being at home in the world (which is how I raised my daughters too). It is true the world would be better off if we all shared the same openness to differences across borders and cultures.
That photo of the castle. Wow. What a great pic.
I love reading about your travels and wandering adventures. I’m so glad to hear you feel well enough physically to be out, as you say, in your home in the world - on foot wandering and wondering.
Your words always feel like home to me, Amy. 💕 While I haven’t traveled nearly as much as you, we share the same seeking spirit within us.
Thank you for reading, Allison. Always lights me up to connect with you & yes especially on our shared Seeker spirit, wondering and wandering where ever life takes us.
Amy, I can't wait to wander again, and maybe to do a little wandering with you. Thank you for writing about your trip to Edinburgh, I was ever so curious and would love to be able to go. Big hugs, Francesca xx
Let’s keep dreaming of that wandering together Francesca. You would love Edinburgh & the Fringe!
Excellent read that reminds me, yet again, that I should make the effort to attend the Fringe.
Thanks Debbie, and yes I highly recommend the Fringe Festival. Can’t wait to go back!