She Kept A Parrot
A Journal For Charlie
The World Came To Me
Heron
People of my age travel on cruise ships sipping hard liquor heading somewhere. Exciting strangers with tales to tell. They visit places they’re too old to explore. They have grand adventures. They bring back photographs and silly hats to prove it. I know this because the characters on my bookshelf told me. My sister tells a different story. I trust my bookshelf friends. I don’t travel.
Just this morning on the trip to my desk, I spied a Great Heron resting for a moment in a marshland. Somewhere. I stood quiet in the morning mist watching him open his wings to the new sun. Hoping he’d stay awhile.
16 Comments on “The World Came To Me”
Comments
She Kept A Parrot 
At some point there will be a meeting between us. I would laugh a lot at lines like this: People of my age travel on cruise ships sipping hard liquor heading somewhere.- sipping? 🙂
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Your heron has a very wise eye.
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Loved the pic and especially the insight you share. You should get out their and travel. There are so many beautiful wonders that this world has to offer.
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Enjoyed the image and thoughts you provided. i adore travel – but have not warmed up to cruises. i envision being a bit of a “Gray Nomad”, and am hoping my health holds out so i can do it with a backpack and not an RV. As i gain years, though, i find comfort in the routine. The Known. i may need to make sure i have a stable port – with a few doors and hallways. And a big bookshelf.
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I don’t think you sound like a “Gray Cruiser”. You will hike or bicycle. That I can see clearly. Throw your books in your Kindle and head on out! I love the image of that for you!
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A beautiful image and supporting words. It is intriguing how object such as the heron in the photograph can let our minds and hearts fly. We then take what we have found in that flight and through words and image set it free on the internet, where it remains motionless, waiting to be discovered by others.
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What a beautiful concept, Elmediat. You told me what I felt. As always, you articulate my own unformed thoughts for me. Thank you.
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I can’t wait to travel… I am waiting for hubby to retire in 3 or 4 years and then we hope to do the “grey nomad” thing. We have talked about flying to the USA, buying a RV… travelling the National Parks for a year or so… selling the RV… flying back to Oz and starting the whole process over again. And one day I hope to go overseas to somewhere other than the USA. But that’s what happens when you marry an American I guess 😉
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YES! That’s precisely what happens when you marry an American! Ha Ha. I never heard the description: “The Grey nomad thing”. I like that. My sister lives in a village near Fort Worth, Texas. In order to buy a house there, you have to be at least fifty-five years old. The community offers every amenity and activity imaginable. They have a good time. She told me how the residents always say they’re having as much fun as possible before the funeral. Most of the men are married to younger women. Somebody to wheel them around on the cruises, I guess. I love old people. It’s just the recently old who annoy me.
With your enthusiasm for life, you will have fun traveling, for sure. You have to barter with husband. A trip to the US for a trip to some interesting place! 🙂
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He did promise me Canada 🙂
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Canada. YES! Elmediat lives in Northern Ontario. You must visit him. He is wonderfully talented and gentle and bright and absolutely the best friend. He has a family of equally interesting, talented and thoroughly decent people. If you don’t know him, visit his blog. He is an extraordinarily friendly and generous man who can tell you everything you want to know and don’t about Canada, I am certain. He writes beautiful poetry and prose and is a sensitive and creative artist. He will welcome you.
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Sounds wonderful… I have a few online friends in Canada… and I can’t wait to get my camera out in that gorgeous place.
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Grosh,……I’m blushing. Actually my community, Elliot Lake, has turned into a retirement community of sorts. The difference is that those who move here, spend part of their winters down south. 😀
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In Australia we spend out winters up North.
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II can understand your reluctance to travel. There was a period in my life, when I traveled a lot, and loved the adventure. I was learning something new all the time. Now I travel a bit in my own country, which is a very small country… and that is enough for me. I still learn a lot. But most of the time, I let the world come to me… and I’ve even built a few doors and hallways, so that not too much of the world will find me, and not too fast. And I am very satisfied with what I have. This week, I am going off to the north again. Actually, I would probably prefer going to the south, where it is warmer… but I am on my way to see an old friend whose been ill lately… and I don’t know if he might need my visit… I don’t know how much time he has. Thank you so much, George, for sharing the image and the thought.
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I too have built doors and hallways. I am uncertain whether I am walling out or walling in. I suspect our purpose is the same: “…so that not much of the world will find me, and not too fast”.
I understand how bittersweet your visit will be. I have had too many last visits in my life, and I know you have too. It is important that you go. Your old friend longs for your visit. At the end of our lives, we most need to touch the hands of our friends one last time. It is good of you to go.
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