Trace

So....Now that I've pretty much come to peace with the fact that I can't be at home in Charleston every weekend I've come to peace with accepting where I am while I'm here.  As I've said...it's actually a very pretty place and I feel more comfortable here than when I was in Raleigh.  The problem with Raleigh was that it was close enough to Charleston so I never got comfortable there, nor did I want to.  I could always escape and get back to Charleston given a tank of gas and 3 1/2 hours of highway time.

Here it's different.  I'm too far away to get home like that.  I can't afford to fly home as frequently, although my heart aches about it if I let myself dwell on it for too long.  So - I don't allow myself to dwell.  It seems pretty simple- the options are to hate it just because or to come to peace with it.  Harder said than done, I realize, but I've done the latter.  For now.  

Yesterday afternoon it was 90+ sunny degrees here.  I've done something I haven't done for a long time - I went for a bike ride.  The area around where I live is what I'd think of as stereotypical for the midwest...lots of greenery...lots of "country"...of fields, and farms, and farm animals.  There's a bike path near where I live so I got on that and followed it for a while.

On this blog, over the years, I can remember showing scenes from several of my different running/biking routes.  There's the Erie Canal photos from Rochester, NY.  I've put pictures from my route while I was in Scottsdale.  I've shared scenes from my route in Charleston.  Well, here's a new one....a scene typical of my most current route.  

Yesterday evening, as the sun was going down, I headed into Iowa for an evening walk along an area known as the "Wabash Trace".  It's a 60+ mile trail that's an old rail roadway.  I've heard it was pretty, and it delivered (especially in the golden light of the sun going down).  I took a couple of pictures...sharing them too.

Sometimes that takes a while....coming to peace with your circumstances.  Lord don't I know.  Sometimes I can do it, and sometimes I can't.  Or won't.  Regardless, here I am.

I wear a cross around my neck.  I wear it pretty much every day.  If you look at the photo I posted recently (or any photo I've posted in the past 18+ months) you'll see it.

People ask me if I'm religious because of it - and what it typically represents to most.  But the reason I wear it, and what this specific necklace represents to me, is unique to me.

The cross represents intersection.  Past and present.  Life crossroads.  Yin and Yang.  Lots and lots of intersections.  It's not a religious image so much as a spiritual one.

And the dove....well...the dove is what makes it more than just another cross.  The dove represents peace.  More specifically, it represents inner peace.  That's what this image means to me.  That's why I wear it.  Intersections, and inner peace.  Symbolism means a lot to me, and it's a constant reminder.  I never want to forget.