This week I'll be heading out on my Solo Journey. For the first time, my destination is in my own state: the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Those barrier islands off the coast separate the Atlantic Ocean from the mainland. Included in the area is Roanoke Island that was the site of England’s first settlement in … Continue reading Time to Take Off
pilgrimage
Gather Yourself: Lessons in Scotland
"After all the dreaming, planning, and praying, I'm now at the threshold of Iona," I wrote in my journal a year ago as I looked across the white-capped-waters of the sound toward the stone buildings of the Abbey. I'd made it to the village of Fionnphort in the Inner Hebrides, where I'd booked a room … Continue reading Gather Yourself: Lessons in Scotland
The Stranger on the Bus
We stood at the West Tisbury shuttle bus stop on a Saturday afternoon in Martha’s Vineyard. I’d been experiencing that island in Massachusetts for the first time, staying in a hostel for $27.00 a night—the only way I could afford that expensive place. I’d enjoyed the morning at the Farmer’s Market at the Grange Hall … Continue reading The Stranger on the Bus
Places in My Path: Coquina Beach
The beach called me early this morning. I wanted to start my day walking by the water -- always a place of renewal. Does that draw come from the nurture experienced when we were floating in our mother’s womb? Is it from the release that’s felt with baptism or the desire to sail across the … Continue reading Places in My Path: Coquina Beach
Road Trip: Headed South
This morning I leave on my journey. I'm reminded of the first road trip I took with my family to Florida the summer after second grade. In typical 'Daddy fashion,' we left around 2:00 a.m. because he liked to drive when it was quiet and cool-- since our two-tone-blue '58 Chevrolet didn't have air conditioning. … Continue reading Road Trip: Headed South
Celebrate Your Life
In four days, I’m having another birthday. My husband, David is just five months older than me and once we hit sixty, several years ago, he took on a particularly disenchanted attitude about having birthdays, saying he just wanted to “forget about it.” But I came back at him with, “You should celebrate every year … Continue reading Celebrate Your Life
Stepping Over the Threshold
One week from today, I’ll leave on my yearly pilgrimage. For months those days have been blocked out on my calendar with very little thought about the actual journey. Now that I’m almost one year into my retirement from school nursing, I find that my life has been filled with new activities to take the … Continue reading Stepping Over the Threshold
On Pilgrimage with Harold Fry
One morning when I walked in my neighborhood, I made a serendipitous discovery; a Little Free Library had just been installed. Inside the birdhouse for books, I spotted a title that caught my eye—The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Months later when our Edinburgh-bound train passed Berwick-upon-Tweed, I remembered how it had been the right … Continue reading On Pilgrimage with Harold Fry
We Gather
We gather. Forty-one of us from around the world, pilgrims to Iona, Scotland. We share stories of our lives, in one-to-one conversations across the table, in our dorm rooms as we prepare for the day, in dyads during morning sessions. How interesting what has brought each person to this place-- all unique yet with the common … Continue reading We Gather
Go Fund Me
Today I take off on my trip and feel deeply grateful. I remember back to the end of March when I retired. Our school staff and my nursing colleagues honored me and later there was another party with friends. What I didn't expect was a surprise party given by my family. I was shocked and speechless-- a … Continue reading Go Fund Me
