Monday, February 16, 2009

Moving About



If you are what you eat then I must be a pizza. We are moving to a new apartment to the north of the city. As you might expect there is a lot of coming and going. Grabbing something to eat on the run has become routine. We've been lifting, wrapping, unwrapping, pushing and sliding. Poor Pretzel, he feels so unsettled. He's been howling like the wind all day long. I had to have a straight man to dog talk with him. It is often unsettling to move to a new place. I am a bit of a gypsy so I'm use to it. In fact, I've moved more that 18 times through my life. Lately my desire to settle down is much stronger. From the balmy Caribbean to the barren winter cold of central Maine, I've lived in many different climates. I read on the World Almanac that about 20% of American are on the move, so to speak, every year. I think that's a very high number of people. That would be around 40 million people changing homes any given year. We are a very mobile society. On one hand is can frustrating and sad to leave friends and family behind but on the other we are being exposed to different people a different lifestyles like never before in our history. I have a little trick to feel comfortable once you have reached your new location. Go tree hunting. By this I mean to go out for a walk in search of trees you could befriend. I adore trees and the more I feel surrounded by them the safer I feel. Sometimes I think I must have been a druid in ancient times. I feel a sense of deep reverence for trees, specially old ones. Forests become cathedrals in my mind, true places of worship. Trees symbolize ancestry, roots. Trees make me feel like I belong. This very morning I took a long walk to find my trees. I saw a couple of them with high possibilities of becoming gorgeous specimens once the Spring arrives. As I travel around and move from place to place it is very reassuring to know beautiful and majestic trees are about to be met and make me feel welcome everywhere.