Coddiwomple

My friend, Bill, sent me a new word to add to my vocabulary:  “coddiwomple, (v.) to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination.”  He knows I’m a Coddiwompler, a gypsy, a pilgrim, a wanderer, forever yearning to be like Willie Nelson— “On the Road Again.”  In just another week or so,  I will be on the road again, traveling across this beautiful country from coast to coast. I do have a “vague destination” in mind—Flagstaff, Arizona and Monterey, California to visit family and particularly my grandchildren (Ethan and Eleni)—and then the vagueness sets in—wandering about wherever the roads chosen may lead with the only destination being to return home eventually.  The Odyssey (our miniature motorhome) has had its 105,000 mile maintenance service and all is set for yet another coddiwomple journey.  I’m ready—more than ready!

Since my liberation (retirement) I have read poetry and listened to music as a means of pondering the yesterdays, the todays, and the tomorrows of my journey.  “Music,” says Victor Hugo, “expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”  Enya’s song, Pilgrim, and Tolkien's poem, do that for me as I prepare to get “On the Road Again.”  

All days come from one day

That much you must know,

You cannot change what’s over

But only where you go

One way leads to diamonds,

One way leads to gold,                                                                

Another leads you only

To everything you’re told.

In your heart you wonder

Which of these is true;

The road that leads to nowhere,

The road that leads to you.

Will you find the answer

In all you say and do?

Will you find the answer 

In you?

Each heart is a pilgrim,

Each one wants to know

The reason why the winds die

And where the stories go.

Pilgrim, in your journey

You may travel far, 

For pilgrim it’s a long way

To find out who you are…

****

“Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate

And though I oft have passed them by

A day will come at last when I

Shall take the hidden paths that run

West of the Moon, East of the Sun.”   (J.R.R. Tolkien)