Where the heart is

Back in Sweden. Everything is the same, but I’m different. A year of mostly travelling has changed me. Not to mention the way I see the world. It feels smaller and friendlier, now that I’ve circumnavigated it. This ground is familiar, but the sky feels strange now that I know that there is another side to it. That’s when I miss it the most. Looking up at the stars, feeling the tug of longing for adventure. At least that’s the way it’s always been.

Here’s familiarity. So much it almost chafes. People hadn’t forgotten me, and there have been many happy reunions. That combined with lots of things happening keeps me distracted enough not to drown in my longing back to New Zealand. Instead that land is like a happy dream, only I know it’s real. It makes other dreams seem less impossible, and that brings me even more happiness. And a sort of peace of mind.

Problems that once would have freaked me out don’t bother me so much. My current living situation, for example. I didn’t manage to find an apartment as was the plan, and so I’m currently homeless until further notice. Luckily I have several awesome friends who have offered me their homes to crash at. The very thought of such a temporary existence would have driven me crazy not very long ago, but with the better part of a year of living out of a backpack behind me it feels quite okay. 

I’ll admit it makes me a bit nervous. It puts me in a very dependent position and forces me to trust others to a pretty high degree. And there is that little fear of being too much of a burden without giving enough back. An unthankful parasite. But then again, I know that I would do (and have done to a rather large extent) the same for my friends. Helping them out in their time of need without asking anything back, just hoping that they will pay it forward to whoever will need it some day.

So I’m being as calm and positive about it as can be. I will get to spend more time than usual with my friends. And there is a certain feeling of freedom to not having a fixed geographical location full of stuff to own me. Hopefully I’ll learn something about the world, or about myself. Also: it is a temporary thing, just like life itself.

“I don’t think home is a place anymore. I think it’s a state of mind.”

— Neil Gaiman (A Game of You, vol. 5 of the Sandman series)

Love and home,

Winterdragon