We all eventually do it - leave the nest. No, not just the house that raised us up, but the mind's nest, as well. Leaving is the alternative to fixing your surroundings. It may be too difficult, outside your control, too full of bad feelings and memories, just plain no fun. Whatever the reason for not sticking it out, we sooner or later take to the highway, either literally or figuratively speaking. And when we do, we don't always have a pre-selected destination. The motto is usually "anywhere but here".

Despite that, we will eventually end up somewhere. The real question should be, so, where are you NOW? Being lost in the process is not as much fun as being lost in the actual environment. You can eventually find your way out of the woods without too much outside help (unless you've done something pretty silly), but getting lost in the process means that you are going to have to work this one out for yourself.

Try looking at a map upside down.

Where will  that take you?

Pirouetting through the night, the sky
Turns and turns 'round itself
There is no center, no primary post
Holding up this house

There is only the swirl of memory,
Lights from long ago
That signify stellar yesterdays

Standing here the mind also turns
To yesterdays beneath slightly 
Younger stars, cicadas loud
In the still-warm summer grass

The sheets too sticky to allow sleep,
Urging a moonless walk under Midwestern darkness
To look for things sleep could not pry open
Things not presently there

We go out in life, away from the center post
Of our house, of our early life,
Looking for that Pole star that will serve as our guide
Yet find only chaos to light the path

It is only much later that we learn
The chaos was not a star chart,
It was only fireflies pretending to light the way
And we, fools to follow

I must let the sky spin
And revel in that turning
Turn myself beneath those stars;
Become the center post in my own house

Travel Sideways -