Sunday, March 11, 2007

Dream Journey

Today's Prompt: Dream Journey "You could take this to mean the journey of your dreams, the place(s) you most want to go in the world, and the luscious details of that dream trip. Or, a journey in dreams. Dreamlife, hopes, wishes."

"So many dreams, so little time."

A local radio station gave away airline tickets to anywhere in the world for over a year. I always hoped that my name would be called. I would go to Scotland and Sicily.

My grandfather was born in Ayre, Scotland in 1863. He was 24 years older than my grandmother and thus, not around when I was born. I want to see the country he grew up in until he was 13 or 14. Around that age, he left home and travelled on a three masted schooner around the world. My heritage is also Irish and German but Scotland calls my name.

My husband's family is from the toe of Italy and Sicily. Just as I am drawn to Scotland, I am drawn to this part of the world. I absolutely love Tomie de Paolo's Strega Nona books. I imagine us walking along the streets that my husband's grandmother and grandfather did.

If I could time travel, it would be to spent time on the three-masted schooner as did my grandfather. My father and aunt regaled stories of my grandfather all though my life. One of my favorites was my Grandfather and his tattoos. His ship arrived in Calcutta, India. He and his ship mates all went to shore to get tattoos. Well, my grandfather, decided the tattoos were too spendy so once aboard the ship, he did his own tattooing on his hands. I dream of walking the streets of Calcutta in the 1880's.

I led our school in celebrating the first ever Earth Day, April 22, 1970. The"Earth Day" flag flew that day as classmates planted seeds, wrote poetry, and committed ourselves to saving the planet. To me, it was a rebellious and necessary act in raising the consciousness about our precious planet. I still feel this way today although, I, at times, can be lazy about recycling, reusing, and reducing. I dream that I continue walking lighter on this amazing place we call home.

6 comments:

Regina said...

Wow, Jone- I love stories about our ancestors- they were so brave! I loved Scotland when I was there and my one dream is to go to India- my dad was there during the war and he would tell me stories that made me just fall in love with the country.
I loved your last line here as well- walking lighter... what a difference it would make to this world if we did that!

Shelby said...

fabulous dreams!

rel said...

Jone,
I can easily relate to your dreams. My heritage is more Irish than French. I've been to France and England and will make it to Ireland this year I hope. My wife's heritage is English and Scottish. So lots of dreams inhabiting this household.
rel

Tammy Brierly said...

Scotland and Italy sound very dreamy and I would have loved to meet that adventurous grandfather. The stories he could tell :)

I grew up with two daschunds too. The list keeps growing ;)

Tammy Brierly said...

Scotland and Italy sound very dreamy and I would have loved to meet that adventurous grandfather. The stories he could tell :)

I grew up with two daschunds too. The list keeps growing ;)

gautami tripathy said...

This is wonderful. I too wish to go those places where my Grand Parents were born.

Hope your dream comes true....

Thanks for the visit.