I can honestly say I never wanted to run away and join the circus. I have never been to a circus so I have just the TV appearance of what a circus is and the appeal was never there for me to become circus personnel. Apparently though there are quite a few of those who walk among us who would have liked to join in the fun of cleaning out lion cages and pounding in tent stakes for a chance to travel the countryside and be part of that family of nomads. I just wanted to be going. Nowhere special, just going. Kind of like a tumbleweed, however I would not like to be known as leaving a trail of seedlings behind me to grow and poke and stick my hosts.
I do believe that when the time comes, and you will know when it is time, that each person should take advantage of getting out there and exploring. You might go to other countries and have tales to tell of people that you have no idea what they were saying because you didn’t speak the language, trust me it was all good. But more likely a trip will be within our county’s boundaries and will still produce some memories of people you don’t know saying things about your that you do understand. Some of which I remember as being pretty much good.
A few days ago I was in a conversation where travel was a topic. I recalled in the yaddity yaddity of the group, a trip my husband and I chaperoned. There was one other adult with us and she was lucky enough (and so were we) to drive the bus of about twelve 7th and 8th graders from our little central Nevada berg to Salt Lake City where we all got on an airplane and flew off to the East coast. New York, Washington D. C., Philadelphia and the like. To see things we all had only read about in books. That was some 30+ years ago and the reason I bring it up now is to share with you that time goes by so fast you shouldn’t miss an opportunity to go when the light turns green. I ran into one of those little tykes recently that we had taken back East. She is a grandmother now! Gee willikers that would make me nearly old enough to, well old enough is enough said.
Going is great. But some of the fun of going is the retelling of the going. How many times have you heard the story of, or told the story of a trip you really enjoyed? You can only go, the first time, to someplace once, but you can tell of the going as many times as you can get away with it. So it is kind of important to get going on the telling of the going. (Well that’s a mouthful.)
I try to not let my mouth overtake the mind when telling about going here or there. Remember just because I can see the pigeon sitting on the head of Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial, (I still feel they trained that pigeon to sit there,) I can’t just say a bird sat on a statue. The more details you can add to the re-telling of your goings the more those of us around you listening will want to hear. Yes the pigeon looked at us looking at him and we all waited to see if he would poop. He didn’t, but that would have been good going. Get it poop; going. Moving, or well going along…
Going has been a big part of my life. Not all travels were safe and sane, nor were they long distance travels to exotic places. Sometimes it just involved traveling from Eureka to Buhl, Idaho twice in two days for parts for farm equipment. You get to knowexactly where the best restrooms are when going to the same places over and over again.
You need to try to get out there and see the Jack-a-lope in person. Experience the thrill of getting caught on a motorcycle in an ice storm next to an 18 wheeler. Grab onto that bottle of Bactene antiseptic/anesthetic after a long day in the sun and bugs. That’s the only way your will be able to tell the story of the place you ate the best meal of your going life. Mine was in Maine at a little roadside place where we watched a full moon come up over Cadillac Mountain while eating lobst’a and butt’a and blueberry cheesecake for $7.95. Which tells you how long ago that was. What are you waiting for—get going while the light is still green.
Trina Machacek lives in Eureka, Nevada. Her book ITY BITS can be found on Kindle. Share your thoughts and opinions with her at itybytrina@yhoo.com
