A Woman Traveling Alone

Over lunch of tomatoe soup and fresh salad today, I chatted with Shara about my journey to France tomorrow. Shara has lived her whole life alone, and has traveled extensively. She is an excellent example of a woman living her life to please herself. I’ve been so busy dancing and been so focused on the end result of arriving in Lunas that I haven’t really considered what it will be like to be a woman traveling alone.

Shara  shared that sometimes she is lonely, and she wishes that she had someone to share the excitement and discoveries with, but that most often she is happy to please herself. She warned me to expect challenges but also assured me that I would have wonderful opportunities for discoveries that I would not have if I traveled with a partner or friends. She said, “A woman traveling alone, people just want to take care of you.”

I wonder if that will be true for me. 

Let me tell you about a man at the festival, we’ll call him David. David is a long-time resident of the Findhorn community; you could call him an elder. So, you would expect that he of all people would great me with openness. Actually, I could not say that I even met him, although he was present at every event. Basically, he spent the whole festival avoiding eye contact with me.

I don’t think I’m that scary. And with my limited wardrobe and access to laundry facilities, pretty sure he didn’t find me so alluring that he had to look away. So what gives? I mean, really, he’s supposed to be the enlightened one. If he, long-time Findhorn Community member and elder is so (insecure, insensitive, unsure-pick one) then what about the rest of us? When it was time for group hugs after the completion of the program today, he was in my vicinity, so I hugged him. To do otherwise would be rude. I have to admit, I didn’t want to, but I made the effort. He sort of hugged me, tentatively, afraid our bodies might touch, but there was no eye contact.

don't feel bad, there were several other lovely men at the festival, and I had lots of eye contact and hugs from them. There was a whole lot of that sisterhood-brotherhood stuff going around.

It does make me wonder, however, who I will meet in my travels, and whether or not they will want to help me, or whether I will even want to be helped beyond the ‘Ou est le sale de bain?” kind of thing. 

Anyway,  this summer is about me taking care of me, pleasing me, finding me-A woman traveling alone.