MIA and other abbreviations

by novemberyankeecharlie

Seeker Lover Keeper couldn’t have put it better when they sang “I love the danger in distance”.

It’s a two fold experience being far from those you call family and places you call home. I love where I am but I’m getting ever so used to the distance from what I previously called my ‘real life’. It’s a challenge not just to myself but to the life I once led. Distance gives us perspective, allows us to grasp the issues at hand.

I asked in a previous post “When does away become home?” 6 months doesn’t seem long enough at all, but it sure feels like I’m a long way away from that place I once felt so comfortable. I find myself relating to terms like ‘MIA’ and ‘AWOL’. Missing in Action. Away On Leave. Looking at both those phrases I realise how vague they seem, how non-descript they are. It seems appropriate that they’re terms I relate to. I have no idea where I’m going or what the plan is. I have 2 degrees and my current lot in life is that of a waitress in New York City. I turned 25 two days ago.

Maybe I should be asking what went wrong? When did I get so off course?

Unfortunately for my inner CEO, I can’t concede fault in the path I’ve taken. Nothing has gone wrong and I’m yet to believe that I’m off course. I applaud those who know what they want to do, those who pursue it through school and university, and diligently make that life for themselves. I thought I was that girl, the one with the plan, the one with the notion of success by a certain time. I had a chronological timeline. A timeline well planned.

As another artist stated “I ain’t lost, I’m just wandering”

Maybe my path is made of gravel, it’s rough and if I’m not careful I may fall. Those paths though often lead to the places untravelled by others, places undiscovered by those before, places that were well worth the journey before them.

Or maybe I will just fall.

I’m ok with that journey.