This past weekend we took a quick trip up to Vermont with another couple. There is a cidery up in Middlebury that puts on a “Ciderbration” event each year and we decided it would be fun to go back and visit. The last time that we were there was about three years ago.
I was prepared for the large crowds of people at the cidery, the six-hour car ride, the good music from the bands and tasty food truck treats. I was prepared for the beauty provided by miles of rolling farmlands surrounded by green mountains, but what I was not prepared for was the hippie vibe of the state and how being surrounded by all of that endless nature would make me feel.
From the moment my eyes saw the far off rolling hills, a yearning bloomed in my heart. The closer we got to the mountains the harder it was to not stick my hands out the backseat window and try to form a connection to the powerful earth that surrounded us.
We arrived Friday evening. Since Saturday was filled with Ciderbration, there was little time to do anything else. By Sunday morning I felt such an overwhelming sense of homesickness. The ache in my soul was not for the state for which we were returning, but rather the state from which we were leaving.
We weren’t even out of the state yet, and I was already planning our next trip back. Throughout my life, I’ve always been very torn between being a “mountains” or an “ocean” girl. When I was a teenager, I would have given anything to live in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. As the years passed and my affinity for water grew deeper, I drifted away from the mountains and became content to be on the shoreline.
I can’t remember feeling that pull last time we were ventured up north. I remember being eager about the possibility of seeing a moose (especially upon seeing my first moose crossing sign), but not the necessity to jump out of the vehicle and start running towards the mountains with my arms open wide. Perhaps it is because I’m in a different place in my life now then I was three years ago.
Back when I was a teenager, even though I was surrounded by different types of turmoil, I was in a very healthy place spiritually. My soul was very alive and very much a part of me. Water has always brought me peace and comfort. Perhaps my affinity for water over the years has been a way to help bring out that inner calm when my spiritual side was waning, and now that I’m at a better place my soul feels free to soar once again to the mountain tops and land amidst the trees.
And because life is full of little synchronicities for those who wish to see them… today’s Daily Calm meditation was about visualizing yourself as a mountain. Pulling stability from the mountain’s strength, allowing your feet to root into the Earth and provide grounding. To be able to connect to something that is thousands of years old. And for any old souls out there… can you feel that connection?
Impermanence is everywhere. Change surrounds us. This we know. But some things that remain steady are our souls, the earth and the heavens. We’ve been here before and we’ll be here again. Our lessons will be different, the mountains may grow ever so slightly, and a star somewhere may fade, but the energy that makes up the essence of all of it is everlasting. It’s a connection that you can count on over-and-over again. It’s one place that we can always go to when we want to come back home.
