Mileposts
The road is still beneath my feet
The road to work has mile markers.
Most days I hardly notice them.
Occasionally one catches my eye.
Mile 12.
Mile 48.
Mile 93.
The road itself does not seem particularly interested in them.
It continues beneath the tires exactly as before.
The wind does not pause.
The meadowlarks do not sing differently.
The clouds pay no attention at all.
Birthdays seem rather like that.
We stand beside another marker for a little while.
Perhaps we take a photograph.
Perhaps others gather there with cake and candles.
Then, sooner or later…
we continue walking.
Lately I have begun to wonder if I have spent too much of my life looking at the markers.
Sixty-one.
Forty.
Twenty-one.
Eighteen.
Each one seemed important when I arrived.
Each one eventually became another post disappearing in the rearview mirror.
Yet the road…
The road has been quietly teaching me something else.
It has never asked how old I am.
Only whether I am attending.
Whether I notice the deer stepping from the ditch.
The colour of this morning’s sky.
The cloth waiting on the Slow Bench.
The thread that has somehow found its way onto my sleeve.
Perhaps growing older is not really the accumulation of years.
Perhaps it is simply becoming more practiced at noticing the road between the mileposts.
And perhaps…
that was the journey all along.
Namasté
Joe
Beautiful, Joe! It IS the road that matters. Age, I've found, is a tricky thing. A label the world tries to put on you to regulate your activity and thoughts. But, dreams keep you alive. Having somewhere to go or something to do gives you purpose. And, purpose added to dreams awakens the heart and mind and turns life into an adventure! Maybe we go slower as we age, and that's a good thing. You miss so much speeding down the road. A walk helps you gain perspective. We forget how to just "see" ,until we slow down. The journey IS the journey.
I guess I was out to lunch when this posted. Glad I found it while looking back through my emails for something else. As usual, there's much food for thought, but it also reminded me of one of my favorite quotations: "We're all just walking each other home." Ram Dass. It's pretty much my mantra for life.