Travel & Photography
Go Ahead, Stop You’re Crying Now, It’s Merely a Sign of the Times
From Hawaiian family vacations to MLK in Atlanta to Walden Pond near Boston— a million miles, a million signs
Signs come and go. Signs are everywhere — especially when traveling. Along the roadsides and streets, in parks, near bodies of water. You name it. Wherever we roam, there will be signs.
Some hold much more meaning than others. Some manage to catch the eye for one reason or another, and others just fade into the blur of time, like a lot of other things in life.
Oh, but the nostalgia of old sign photos just might kill you!
One of my absolute favorite sign photos is this small, incredibly grainy photo from… like… 1989 or thereabouts, of a beloved family trip to the island of Kauai. Don’t we just look like a bunch of '80s kids?
I suppose I would have been about fifteen and what’s truly remarkable is that while we thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful island paradise (beach, luau, food, shopping, a drive around the island in a rental car, and all the other typical touristy things) I remember how incredibly fractured my mind was back then.
Our family was falling apart as my parents needed badly to separate from one another. My middle brother was a wild child, always causing mischief and getting into trouble — a theme that would play out throughout his life in some pretty drastic ways, unfortunately. I was rather wild myself so I can’t say too much… but he was really wild!
My oldest brother was off on the side looking a bit detached, as he seems to like to do. It’s taken me a long time to understand that some people just need to be reeled in — it’s merely their nature — and luckily learning to tap into my own Aries nature helps get the job done.
But what really astounds me is to think just how much I hated myself back then. I thought I was so ugly and fat. Like a lot of girls growing up in the 80s, I fell victim to thinking if I didn’t look like those girls in all those fashion mags I was screwed… or not screwed… not screwed in a loving way… you know what I mean!
It took so many years to unravel that detrimental way of thinking. To come full circle and be able to say with conviction:
Oh yeah, I am worth all that and a bag of chips, just the way I am. And don’t you forget it Buster!
I’m gonna sound a bit old now, but in reading so many stories from so many writers who are much younger than me, I do wish I could pass on the incredible gift of being fully comfortable in one’s own skin. To embrace all the wonderful things life has to offer and not get hung up on so much stupidity — like worrying about who does and doesn’t like me — or who is gossiping about me at the moment — or who is going to judge me harshly for silly things that don’t much matter anyway.
I mean, who really cares?
Then again, maybe there are many life lessons each one of us has to learn on our own, through trial and error. Life ain’t easy, is it? What a tricky devil it can be.
That trip to Hawaii was truly amazing and was followed up the next year by a trip to Acapulco — we ended up much preferring the laid-back, quirky nature of Mexico over Hawaii.
How lucky we were to have been able to experience such places at a young age? Thanks, Mom and Dad in Heaven for giving us the love of travel and seeing new places, which served to broaden our thinking and our horizons!
Still some of my favorite signs…
One of the most profound places I’ve ever visited is The King Center in Atlanta, GA, dedicated, of course, to the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Walking through the expansive grounds was an experience that nearly defies words themselves — seeing where MLK was born, the humble church where he first started to preach the gospel and lead others toward higher spirituality and racial harmony, the tomb of himself and his wife, Coretta Scott King, The Eternal Flame, the infamous rose garden, and the many other symbols of love and peace which have been erected and dedicated to his legacy.
And a multitude of helpful signs helped fill me in on all the essential details.
“THE ETERNAL FLAME: The Eternal Flame symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King’s ideals for the “Beloved Community” which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles.”
This may sound funny, so please here me out, but I think growing up in the U.S., the legacy of MLK and his message has a tendency to fade into the fabric of everything else that is going on in society. His name has become so commonplace that, for many, it has lost a lot of significance.
And this is such a completely unfortunate thing.
McDonald’s, Burger King, baseball, Elvis, JFK, MLK, The Beatles, laptop computers, smart phones… you see what I mean?
However, as I toured the grounds that day, I really began to absorb the essence of Dr. King and what he was trying to do and accomplish with what became his very short life (he didn’t even get to see 40 years of age!) and how much he advocated for peace and equality. He did not promote the direct vilification of anyone — even though there was plenty to go around — but instead merely advocated for a fair and equitable chance of being able to live life to one’s fullest potential.
All I can say is that I’m glad I always carry plenty of tissues in my pocket and napkins in my purse because I ended up with an enduring case of the sniffles the whole time I was there, not due to a cold or allergies, but in sheer emotional gratitude for what this man did and how he did it, and the incredible sacrifice he made to spread his message to all of us.
And I couldn’t shake the sheer unspeakable horror of this peace-loving man being gunned down in such a violent way on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th, 1968 — the same date that in 1974 would become my own day of birth — and, coincidently, had already become the birthday of Dr. Maya Angelou in 1928.
Oh, but aren’t odd connections like this just super strange and wonderful?
The only downside is that this was still at the height of all the COVID mess in 2021, so I wasn’t able to enter any of the buildings, but there was still plenty to see on the outside.
Another strange thing is that as I drove out of the city of Atlanta later that day, headed through some of the more rural parts of Georgia, I encountered many instances of Confederate flags being proudly displayed in various places. And then and there I truly understood for the first time what a terrible symbol this is for anyone to display. Seriously, I’d always been a bit on the fence about it. I mean, it’s just a flag. There’s that whole Dixieland, Dukes of Hazard tinge of nostalgia thing going on.
However, can one ever separate the flag from its abhorrent connection to upholding white supremacy, and the attempt to suppress the freedom of so many whose only crime is they were not born with the ‘right’ color of skin?
I think not.
Would love to make a return visit to The King Center and the city of Atlanta one of these days.
More signs, and yet another connection to MLK
Thanks to our January writing prompt on signs here at Globetrotters, I ended up discovering something interesting — I take a lot of photos of signs — so many that I might just be able to write a book about them someday. Apparently, I love taking photos of signs. They are often filled with such character, or interesting info that I might want to read later, that I suppose I just can’t help myself sometimes.
Like this sign that is again related to MLK from The Embrace sculpture at Boston Common, which I briefly wrote about here.
“Love is such a powerful force. It’s there for everyone to embrace — that kind of unconditional love for all humankind. That is the kind of love that impels people to go into the community and try to change conditions for others, to take risks for what they believe in.”
What a powerful message!
Have to say, even though I took photos, this one from Bruce Coulter blew mine out of the water big time.
Also, I still need to write about the immensely lovely visit to Waldon Pond not far from the beautiful city of Boston, which I had the pleasure of exploring with my fellow In Living Color editor, Allisonn Church,
What a simply amazing day that was!
Just to throw in a few other random signs, love these two favorites from Shakespear’s Garden and Strawberry Fields in Central Park, NYC:
Lastly, whenever I fly into an airport and head off the plane, I always love seeing signs like this:
Go on now all you wonderful places across the world, welcome me to your city/state/country. Let me know how proud you are of your locale and give me a little tease of things to come — food, lights, parks, attractions. Some people are not city people, but I LOVE them!
Oh, but it’s a grand world, isn’t it? And full of so many signs that help us enjoy it!
Yes, I did borrow the title of this story from the Harry Styles song Harry Styles — Sign of the Times (Official Video). I’m just one of a million, perhaps billion, huge HS fans.
This is a response to the Globetrotters January ‘Signs’ challenge. Check out these other great stories:
Enjoyed reading about Warren Thurlow’s adventures and checking out beautiful photos in this ‘signs’ story:
And I enjoyed reading this story from Nella DiCarlo about a quaint city that I’ve had to pleasure of visiting and enjoying myself:
