I went to Sunday breakfast at the Prescott American Legion Post this morning, as I do at least twice a month, when here.  Those with whom I am close were either not there, or were busy with their serving tasks, so for some reason, I was just pacing around, until my food was ready.  One old friend quipped, “Gary, you’re walking around alot this morning- thinking of buying the place?”  When I had finished eating and went to leave, he chortled “Good God, now he’s walking on.”

That set me to thinking- I have been a restless soul, for as long as I can remember.  My first punishment, when I was three, was for walking up to Grama Kusch’s house, which meant I had to cross at least one street alone.  I don’t remember whose hairbrush hit my backside first- Mom’s or Grama’s.  When we moved to Adams Avenue, and I was five, I preferred walking to the horse corrals, hiking the hills near home, checking out the abandoned railbed or going over the hill to my aunt’s house to playing ball, riding a bike or watching television.  My favourite board games were route-oriented: “Risk”, “Monopoly” and checkers.  I loved the TV show, “Route 66”, as much to see the different places the guys went each week, as to see which hot girl Buzz would meet.  My other favourites on the tube were more sedentary, but still cerebral (Perry Mason, Checkmate, Soupy Sales :})- yet that’s another matter.  My first job was delivering newspapers.

I chose active Army duty over National Guard, because my feet were itching to get to a different place, or two.  That eventually led me to Fort Myer, Va, where I walked all over the DC metro area- one time going from the south entrance of Rock Creek Park all the way to Germantown, MD.  After that, there were ten months in Viet Nam, where wandering was not an option- but I did get to see Sydney, on R &R.

In college, I was a director of campus tours and travel, at the community college and backpacked around North America in the summer of 1972.  My part-time job that Fall, at UPS, entailed sorting parcels going to various spots.  I wanted, at one point, to deliver mail for a living, but a postal hiring freeze that year squashed that idea.

When I taught in a classroom, I was okay with being focused on the tasks at hand, since they involved children and growth.  On weekends, though, I covered insane distances- in Maine and Atlantic Canada, and later on- all over Arizona and Sonora.

Penny settled me down, somewhat, though she shared my wanderlust, to a point.  Aram anchored us further- we did take trips here and there, mostly in summer, but a growing child needs the security of home and neighbourhood.  A teen needs such things all the more.  So, I practiced stillness, learned a modicum of stationary behaviour and focused on the growth of my spirit.

Penny has gone to the spirit realm, and she was one of a kind.  There are plenty of people about whom I care, but I have only one soul mate, and we see each other in dreams and in visions.  Aram is grown, and is pursuing his own dreams.  I am, and will be, there when he needs me.  Mostly, though, I’m on my own- and my soul goes follows its given course.

Next:  A revised view of the path ahead.