“If you get far enough away, you'll be on your way back home.”
I got an award to attend the 2024 Good World Journeys Salon in Greece. This Summer, I had the incredible opportunity to visit Patmos, and it was a heavenly, magical, and deeply special experience. My journey took me from my home in Oklahoma to Atlanta, followed by a flight to Athens, a train to the city, then bus ride to the pier, and finally a ferry to the small island of Patmos, in the Dodecanese region.
I jumped into the ocean, cried, laughed, danced, and got the best tan of my life—along with the best Χταπόδι με φάβα και σάλτσα κρασιού I’ve ever tasted. The purpose of this trip was to spend my days writing and learning from one of my favorite authors: Cheryl Strayed. They say never meet your idols, but Cheryl is hands down one of the most fascinating and down to earth badass I probably will ever meet. She has inspired me so much, and that is a gift you respect because it challenges you and it grows. Inspiration is the closest thing to magic in my world.
I was in Greece for two weeks, and it felt like a month. The pace of life shifted as I swam in the ocean every day, got to know the locals, enjoyed a massage, attended a film festival, and heard stories from writers all over the U.S. These experiences are something I’ll remember for a long time.
The best thing this adventure gave me was a reminder of how cool I am. It reminded me that I am one of the coolest people I know, which means I will continue to do cool things—sometimes irreverent and completely out of left field.
I met this 84 year old man on the ferry on my way to Patmos. We were the only ones wearing face masks, you know… just in case. We had a great conversation and we discovered we had some things in common. We both arrived in the U.S. alone as teens, without speaking the language and were in a constant state of culture shock. Though he had family connections for a place to stay and I didn’t, the experience was similar: going from a place like Greece to a place like Ohio. For me, growing up by the Pacific ocean and finding myself in a place like Maple Valley. We left all we ever knew for a place we’d never been.
♫♪♪
“How does it feel
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown"
♫♪♪
Anyway, knowing I’d never see him again, I asked for a picture. He told me I was smart, and in the photo, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, as if I were his orphaned granddaughter.
This is not the first time I’ve taken a writing class with Cheryl Strayed. A few years ago I signed up for one of her writing classes in a remote hill in North Carolina, a place called “Art of Living Retreat Center” where I heard so many interesting stories and gut-wrenching experiences. All these stories were narrated by women. In some ways I understand now that getting through life will involve hearing the lamentations of the women, while I stubbornly try be an uncompromising outsider among them.
Cheryl Strayed, gets it.
I think I knew that she did long before I ever met her. I always say that a unicorn recognizes another unicorn. TO BE CONTINUED
Someone caught the exact moment I asked her my questions, and I love when that happens. Meeting one of my role models, with the Greek sea in the background, sparkling waters all around, and me clearly too excited to keep my mouth shut and let Cheryl talk— all captured perfectly!
♫♪♪
Away, I’d rather sail away. Like a swan that’s here and gone.
♫♪♪
