All directions...one way

I keep seeing this sign around Catalonia and each time it strikes me as funny; all directions...one way. Really now? But when I met this sign yet again as I was walking between towns along the mountainous ridges of the Costa Brava, I had a moment of reflection and revelation.

Indeed, I thought; it doesn't matter which way you go; you ultimately
end up where you are; and oftentimes exactly where you need to be. In my current incarnation as professional vagabond, this is a point that is not easily lost on me. Every day, without fail, I am called to make decisions about where to go, how to get there, how long to stay and when to move on. Sometimes everything works out perfectly and those days are AWESOME. But most days, something goes horribly wrong. Buses are missed; train schedules are wrong, places are closed, items misplaced, language barriers insurmountable. Those moments, if you let them; and I have, can derail the rest of a perfectly good day. If you let them. But I have also found that there is always a next train or a bus to someplace else that's interesting. Leaving something behind is an opportunity to gain something new. And language barriers can be a path towards new understanding. Ultimately, it doesn't matter which road you take, you will always come to the same end. I have come to learn, in a very practical sense that every day begins & ends whether or not I want it to; whether or not I have crossed everything off my sight seeing list. Whatever direction I decide to take, wherever I go or don't go; whatever I see or don't see; each step is moving me forward to the same place-the end of this journey.

In the penultimate sense, it's also true. All directions...one way. Every road leads to the same place for everyone. There is only one real direction we are traveling in, from the moment we breathe our 1st breath, and it is the march towards our last, towards death. And I don't mean it in a macabre and depressing way. It's actually quite liberating. It is a fact of life. One we are startlingly adept at trying to avoid. And I am not an exception. Yet again traveling like this, to so many places and for such a long stretch of time; the concept of monumental beginnings and endings is always staring me square in the face.
"Wow! I'm in London!"
"oh, I'm leaving London"
"Wow! I'm in Paris!"
"oh, I'm leaving Paris"
But beginnings and endings are all around us, always. And now that I have begun to settle into the lifestyle of a solo traveler these subtle beginnings and endings also start to reveal themselves; of breath and thought and emotion. I have started watching these things much like I'm watching the scenery outside the train to Valencia. Mountains come and go, cities pass, the sun begins to set and ultimately disappear into the horizon which itself disappears into the oncoming darkness of night. Soon I will be at the end of this day of my life; this small trip within my larger journey. Where to next? Mmm..All directions..one way.