Relative Distances


A few days revolving around heights and measurements, the amount of miles/hours/months between here and elsewhere.

My beautiful friend Kristen drove down to Virginia for the weekend. I hadn't seen her since vacating Pittsburgh at the cusp of July. What I realized quickly was the distinct difference between her and the new friends that I've made here, and I suddenly, desperately craved my little academic neighborhood in my medium-sized Knowledge Town. To be able to talk about navigating heaven and earth and be understood cannot be undervalued. Or found here, so far.

The Shenandoah National Park will take your breath and not return it. The altitude dizzies you. Miles and miles of forest and paths and quiet down deep beneath the canopy. Here, the leaves are just beginning to turn. We climbed up a rock scramble to a spot where the rocks broke out over the trees, over the entire range of mountains, and clouds were wetly grazing our limbs.

Meanwhile, my lover's plane lifted from this country and landed much later, elsewhere. He still does not seem far from me. Perhaps because I have so rarely seen him since May. (Since May.) Perhaps because he is truly much closer than I feared he would be.

Possibly, also, because Syria is only just down the road. Granted, it's Syria, Virginia, but I find comfort in it nonetheless.

What distances are you trying to cross these days?