Life's Paths

The other day, a friend and I were talking about life's paths. I have been thinking about it a lot lately.  That where I am at, right now in this stage of my life, is not even close to where I thought I would be when I was younger. I have been thinking about how I got here?  Why I am here? And what does it all mean?

 I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. We may not always understand or know the reason, but there usually is a reason. It may be years before we come to understand that reason, or at least have an idea of why.

For example; my husband I moved to Anacortes in 2005.  We had just gone through a terrible ordeal, our whole life, or at least the life we knew - was gone. We decided to leave the Seattle area and moved to the small town of Anacortes. I don't know why we chose to move here, it just felt right at the time. It felt like a good place to heal and to bring some sanity back into our lives. Now I can look back and I just know that we were meant to be here. We didn't choose, it chose for us. That the real hardship in our life's path was about to come - and it did- but being here in this community is exactly where we needed to be to get through these times. This life path was chosen for us, it put us in a place where community and support were going to become a very important part of our lives. This life path has also been teaching me valuable lessons and showing me what is really important in the world - Friends, Family, Community and Unity.

The other path that I am on, and would never have envisioned being here, is my involvement in the arts. Honestly, I know nothing about art - well next to nothing - I am learning. Yet, here I am involved heavily in the arts. I am very involved in the Skagit Valley Camera Club. I enjoy immensely being part of the Anacortes Arts Commission. I produce workshops for the arts.  I work part-time for the Skagit Symphony. It seems that everything that I do is involved in someway with the arts.  And I am loving every minute of it. Now this is a life path that I could get used to


Though part of the path we are on right now is very stressful and difficult, I am very very grateful for my friends, my family and for the community in which I live.

Life's paths - sometimes it is all about the journey - not necessarily the destination. I am unsure of where the next path will lead or go, I just need to have faith that it will be a good one and lead me to somewhere exciting.

Expressing myself with - wonderment and awe.

PS - I would live to hear about your life paths - email me at kklocke1@gmail.com. If you like I will post it on my blog.  Thank you and enjoy the journey.

A Journey to where we are

In life we travel many journeys.  I am talking more about the where-life-takes-us-kind-of-journeys.  We are what we are because of the journeys we were on, sometimes by choice, sometimes not. We have to travel a journey in order to get to where we are now. Just like when we travel, we may hit bumps in the road, experience beauty that is beyond words, head downhill (sometimes at high-speed), take a leisurely ride to the top, or just float along.

I am fascinated by people with lives that are what I refer to as, 'level'.  Their lives seem to be on this path, or road, that is pretty even, fairly level and constant.  Not much changes. The scenery is pretty much the same, the road is pretty level, nothing too high, or too low. They are traveling a simple, quiet journey and where they are is stable, reliable and most of the time fairly calm. And I always wonder, 'why is that?' Is it their personality, the choices they made, their outlook on life, their pre-consciousness (without even really thinking about it), or just because? What is their secret?

Then there are those that we all refer to as, 'Lives Life to the Fullest'. Always on the go, happy, bouncing from one journey to the next, always exploring, looking forward to the next journey, enjoys where ever they are and gets to where they are by just doing. 

My journeys have been more like up and down and all around. Always heading somewhere, sometimes heading nowhere, turbulent, winding roads, vastly changing sceneries, changing direction - most of the time without a map, having to relearn again, with brief journeys to amazing places in life.

Now that I am older what kind of journey would I like to be on? Honestly, a mix of all 3.  I like that my journeys change, but I would like some more stable and reliable journeys to help balance it out.  Then add a journey here and there that really excites me and helps me get to that live-life-to-the-fullest place.

Expressing myself with a 'sense of adventure' and hopefully a 'touch of stability'.