If a memory was a star..
A week or so ago, I joined a group chat for local writers, moderated by my dear friend and author, Eileen Anne. In this group, she shares journal prompts; yesterday, she shared this one:
“Write about a memory that feels like a star. What connects it to the next one? What patterns emerge?”
When I read that prompt, my brain exploded with points of light, each denoting a deeply moving, surreal and stunning memory — all connected by travel, the desire to explore, an open mind and a touch of fearlessness. As my mind settled, one star was the brightest, and here is that story:
I was on a month long road trip in my trusty CRV, exploring and visiting friends and family along the eastern seaboard. This particular leg of the journey, I was travelling from the DC area to Newport, Rhode Island. It was an all day drive, and towards the end of the day, I hit traffic. Hitting traffic was pretty common and in those pre-EV-range-anxiety days, I took the next exit off the highway and blazed my own trail. At this time, navigation was a combination of GPS and old fashioned paper mapping to get anywhere — because, while helpful at times, the GPS could be wildly inaccurate, or you’d lose service and be absolutely screwed. So, I was making my way roughly parallel to the way the highway would have sent me, carting along backroads, through small towns and neighborhoods.
It was getting on towards evening and up ahead in the road I saw what I can only describe as a clusterfuck. Cars were pulling off with no signals, parking on the side of the road in the most haphazard and unsafe ways and while there was not a lot of other traffic on the road, I approached cautiously, hoping to understand the commotion and make it safely past the mania. And then, I saw why everyone was acting like a lunatic: the sun was setting over a field of mature sunflowers. I, too, pulled off the road in a haphazard and unsafe way.
Like the others on this back road, I was serendipitously in the right place at the right time and so lucky to see such a stunning sight. The feild of sunflowers stretched as far as the eye could see (over a rolling hill), with the backdrop of a clear, crisp New England September sunset. The gold light from the setting sun set the sunflower petals on fire with light, and while the bees were collected the last dregs of pollen for the day, a few dozen or so human souls stood in a fairy land of soaring sunflowers, sharp gold light and magic. After a few moments of awe and several photos, the sun dipped below the the horizon and with it the temperature dropped dramatically. It was time for me to continue on to Newport.