Leaving Home. Crossing Thresholds.

by Kayce Stevens Hughlett

photo Varanasi, India by KSH ©2017

 "There are no established paths to follow. This way of peregrinatio is demanding as it pulls us away from what is safe and familiar. Moving us out of our comfort zones, this practice calls us to intentionally open ourselves to becoming strangers, to make the intentional journey into exile. But when we are in discernment, this is what is demanded of us, to reach beyond our familiar boundaries and patterns."

Christine V. Paintner 

I sit on a threshold and wait. Yes, there are plane tickets purchased and rooms for the night booked. Still ... it feels like I am stepping into a boat without oars or rudder. My husband will join me for a portion of the journey, my son for another piece. Much of it will be traveled alone. Once again, I will become the stranger. 

Friends who know me say I've been training for this. Practicing. Stretching my boundaries and resilience. Still ... it is familiar and it is not. It is an intentional journey without agenda. Will it feel like exile? Perhaps. Am I reaching beyond familiar boundaries and patterns? Yes. Definitely. Somewhat. 

I sense the stretch, the yearning, the demand to go. Leaving "home" for the longest physical trip of my life. 10 weeks. Skipping the traditional holidays. Leaving before the rush and crush of November and December descends. Returning after the new year begins. 

For today, I sit with my cat, my journals, my poetry, and paints. I pull cards filled with pomegranates and marigolds, sunflowers and roses. Waiting for what I don't quite know. 

 ~~~ 

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SoulStroller: experiencing the weight, whispers, & wings of the worlds  is a Nautilus Book Awards Winner!!  Available @ Bookstores, Amazon, and in your favorite audio version read by author, Kayce S. Hughlett 

“Hughlett finds her voice in the most unexpected places—amidst the grief of life’s challenges, in letting go, in strengthening through presence.” Pixie Lighthorse,  Prayers of Honoring Grief