Heartbeats & Open Roads
A road trip of love
Where do I go when I need love? (Day 1-Tropical Prompts For The Wanderlust Souls) This question kind of stumped me. Love is so open to interpretation. There are so many levels of love as individual as each person involved. Overuse of the word brings out a commonality for a supposed deep-rooted feeling. If only the heart could speak, I don’t believe love is a word it would use.
At first glance of the question, I thought. WOW! I am fortunate. My heart is full of love to give and to receive. My mom and I are close, and we talk daily. I go to her house for peace and comfort. My three children all live nearby, and we talk or text frequently. I reach out to them to remind me of our connection. My mom watches my grandson, who lights up my world, so I get to play with him at least once a week. Several people in my life have been friends for thirty to forty years.
I spent over half my life not understanding love. Mixed messages from childhood, underlying throughout the years after, have laid a cloak of confusion of what love was, is, or what it’s meant to be. So, three little words became an affirmation. For now, it’s Love. Loving. Lovable.
Today, an answer showed up. When I need love, I go on a road trip. A bright sunny day, in my convertible, with the top-down and the tunes blaring.
I have lived almost all my life in the same town. It seems that everyone either knows you, of you or someone close to you. On my road trips, crossing the county line is like turning the key on the gate to restrictions and rules of who I am supposed to be.
As soon as I cross that line, the Motown or Blues tunes go up in volume. A rock concert from the speakers in the door. The music surrounds me in a blanket of energetic vibrations. At that pivotal moment, all my senses are engaged. The energy and warmth flow through my veins. My hands touch the soft leather of the steering wheel, my eyes take in the sights of the rolling hills on each side of me, the blue skies above me. I periodically glance at the rear-view mirror. But my attention is on the road ahead. My body feels each beat of the music, the soft saxophones in the background, the aliveness with each bass beat, and without needing permission, I tap my foot, sing, and even chair dance in the driver’s seat. The taste of freedom is in the wind, and I feel an aliveness that makes my smile beam so brightly it could light up miles of road. I have no care of who sees me or what they might think.
These feelings are what I imagine what pure love feels like. When the mind, body, and spirit flow together in an incredible dance of energy that ignites all the senses, in sync and harmony. They all flow together with the beat of the band and the graceful moves of the dancers. They glide effortlessly through the air like the birds above me. They grow toward the light like the trees and plants along the road — the complete feeling of Devine Oneness within myself.
The open road of peace, freedom, and love with no conditions, no boundaries, and pure unbridled joy! That is where I can genuinely feel the energetic love that has no bounds. Completely and lovingly myself. I fall in love over and over again. When I cross that county line with the wind in my hair, the sun on my face, and the music and beauty surrounding me, that is where I go when I need love.
