What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do - especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. ~William Least Heat Moon

We traveled (and moved) a lot when I was a little girl. I used to say I learned how to read a map before I learned how to read. I still have a love affair with maps. Especially old ones that are outdated; new roads, territories, boundaries replace old ones and new maps must be created.

In my experience, when you move from place to place, there is a tension followed by a sense of release; a relaxation; a letting down of guard. Perhaps that is why we like to go away on vacation. The people we meet there don’t know who we are, what we’ve done, where we’ve been. If only for a moment, we are who we think we are, not who they think we are.

There is a freedom in that.

Photo Courtesy: The Library of Congress