How many ways do you travel to and from home--from Point A to Point B? One? Why? Have you ever been forced to travel from Point A to Point B using a different route? Why? Traffic. Rush hour. An accident. Construction. Weather. Personal commitments. Professional commitments. Money. The environment.
I intend no judgment. I ask nothing more than, "Why?"
Have you ever chosen to take a different route to and from home--from Point A to Point B?
Two months ago, when Zoomer and I met, I established a priority for our travels. I needed to identify as many different routes to the same destination--to and from our home. Minnesota summer's sabbatical from winter's wrath is short. Wintertime indoor sanity essential.
I have chosen to travel from Point A to Point B using different route--different routes. Why? Winter's wrath. My sanity. Experience--two winters of homebound living.
So, I ask. Why do you travel as you do? What do you know of your backyard--of your neighborhood? What do you see in your backyard--around your neighborhood?
Construction. Light-rail transit. Preparation for progress. These do, and will define my routes. Today, quite intentionally, we rode from home to the grocery store. My intent was to be without a roadmap--with only my eyes, ears, nose, and memory to guide me on my way home.
Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota is small by many urban standards--eleven blocks north to south, and eleven blocks from west to east. Yet, within the small area a large sense of adventure breathes. The simple naming of streets is an adventure of the imagination. How is it possible for 5th Street West, 6th Street West, and Seventh Street West to intersect?
OK, so the construction of the XCel Center is the logical explanation. Yet, that is a drunken Irishman's logic, in my book! I confess to Minnesotans, I am neither a cradle Catholic, nor a native St. Paulite. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I was a closet Universalist, and a native Minneapolitan--Golden Valley girl, born of Norwegians, and Englishmen--truth be told.
But, I digress. I do believe that 28 years living in St. Paul bestows on me the right to speak for her downtown--speak of her character. St. Paul, Minnesota infuses in Zoomer and me her spirit of adventure. New to her are brightly-colored pianos randomly placed inviting all to sit down and play a few bars. Engraved sidewalks, markers, and buildings long to be quoted.
How many ways do you travel from Point A to Point B?
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