'Normal'

The first week back from Alaska is never fun. Thankfully, this time around I had a fairly solid ‘Stay as Busy as Possible’ plan, which made the whole experience somewhat less awful than times past. While writing was part of that plan I produced nothing that could be even remotely considered good. Still, I have a strong desire to do better with this blog, so I present instead a small bit from earlier year. It was Day 9 of my January 30 Day Writing Challenge, the quest “Some Words of Wisdom That Speak to You”…

 

 

“Do not expect your life to return to normal. That is not what you had in mind when you entered on this odyssey. Normal is a conduct that has no frame of reference in the realities for which you are preparing.”

I do not know who, where or when those words were first uttered, or written. I googled them once but found nothing. I first saw them back in 2010, printed on a postcard painting that'd been taped to the visor of a Subaru that belonged to one of my housesitting clients. Over the next year I housesat for those clients several times and always would use their car to take the dogs hiking twice a day. In all the times I climbed into the driver seat of that car, never once did those words fail to wow me. Their impact and meaning  carved a deep imprint on my soul and left an echo that has followed me through years into each new journey, trial and fearful change. Their message has been a guide, a soft reminder of my deepest dreams, and a balm in moments that chance left me trembling. Their message was also a catalyst, driving me to make the kind of choices that would uproot me from my ‘normal’. They are the whisper behind so the few experiences where I have done something terrifying and, in so doing,  really truly lived. 

I may never learn the original source of these words but I am grateful, deeply, that the universe saw fit to place them in my path, for my life is forever infinitely richer because of them.