The Best Kind Of Intersections
My husband and I recently enjoyed a vacation away from home. Our trip was fun for many reasons. Exploring other parts of the world beyond our driveway is always eye-opening and offers opportunities to step beyond the familiar. I love history. My husband loves food, so searching for eateries that offer culinary delights is an adventure, especially when you stumble on a restaurant where the lemon pasta absolutely melts in your mouth. And of course, the opportunity to discover or observe different cultures makes me happy to be part of such a big and diversified world.
Perhaps my favorite part of traveling outside my zip code is the opportunity to meet other people from different places with different backgrounds. Although I love my circle of friends and family, meeting new people affords the opportunity to learn and grow from others’ experiences. It feels good to stretch beyond the familiar and hear about other lands and other ways of life. Camaraderie with the familiar is like a warm blanket, easy and comforting. However, on this trip, we had the opportunity to really get to know some fellow travelers whose paths in life are very different from our own. You know how it is when you meet someone and feel like you’ve known them for years? That was our experience. Conversation was easy, and companionship inviting. For me, expanding awareness through others and their stories is enriching.
There’s also something unique about vacation time. Time away also temporarily provides respite from to-do lists, mind clutter, and rigidity of routine. Immersion into a different setting where we’re encouraged to pay attention more lends itself to relationship building. Meeting new people and having unhurried time to chat can be so rewarding. Getting to know someone means conversations traverse unchartered territory.
As we grew in connection with our new friends, our last night together was somewhat of a gratitude session for the gift of our chance encounters. We reminisced. We shared sentiments of appreciation for shared laughter and experiences; and yes, even the acknowledgement of the fact we were all quite familiar with one another’s outfit repetitions. As we were winding down the evening, one of our fellow travelers offered this refection. He referred to our delightful time together as an intersection. When all roads lead to the same place at the same time, we experience the same interchange. Our separate roads will continue, but we will always have the memory of crossing paths. I loved his contemplative assessment of how valuable such intersections can be.
My husband and I have been home now for over a week. In some ways, our time together with our vacation friends feels so long ago. It doesn’t take long to be slurped back into old ways. However, memories were made that will always remain. I will continue to smile thinking about such great conversations where laughter laced discovery and meaning permeated through simple sharing. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I love vacation friends rich in opportunities to connect and learn from different experiences. Hearing others’ voices is a good thing. I’m grateful for the opportunity to travel, but I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to make new friends while traveling. I hope someday there might be another intersection when our paths might cross again. In the meantime, I will smile remembering them.