It turns out I may be doomed to live with a split personality. Either that or I need to travel extensively to find all the parts of myself.
Inspired by my upcoming trip to Bhutan, Linda bought the book Beneath Blossom Rain - Discovering Bhutan on the Toughest Trek in the World by Kevin Grange. She then loaned it to me before she'd even read it herself. Now that's a good friend! As I lay in bed reading last night, I laughed out loud at the beginning of chapter five simply because the words rang so true to me.
A journey doesn't begin with your departure flight but rather months before, when you're inspired to travel. I have often thought at such a moment, part of you departs for that distant destination, never to return and as a traveler you have two choices: you can refuse your own invitation for adventure or you can book your ticket. If you refuse the adventure, your departed self will - depending on your dream - either become shipwrecked or snowbound, and if you don't launch a search-and-rescue mission, that self will soon starve.
It's quite possible that there are little Sharrys all over the world slowly starving to death. (Goodness knows, the one here in Valdez is in no danger of wasting away.) It is imperative that I launch rescue missions to save them all! Barring unforeseen complications, the one in Bhutan will be saved soon, but what of the others? I must start planning trips to Spain (there may be two Sharrys there, one in Barcelona and one on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela), Macchu Picchu in Peru, the Blue Ridge Parkway, all of the Pacific coast of the U.S., the Greek islands, New Mexico, Tuscany...oh, my, but the list is long.
My soul may not be in the mortal danger Voldemort's was from being split apart (after all, I haven't murdered anyone...yet), but who knows what might happen if I don't remedy this situation. I wonder, though, how I should prioritize all those little Sharrys out there. Are the ones that were sent out first, those that are in the places I earliest dreamed of visiting, in the most danger? If so, a trip to visit Holocaust sites in Germany and Poland should be launched imminently. I can't say, however, that trip appeals to me most. Hmm, whatever shall I do? Clearly this is a situation that deserves a lot of thought.
"No, dear, I'm not daydreaming. I'm planning my salvation!"
