“Chautauqua”-: Today, it is “experiencing a renaissance. People are discovering that lifelong learning is one of the keys to living a happy, fulfilling life.”   I am so grateful this word, and this experience entered my life!

So this summer, I had been struggling a little with identity as I quit my long term career path as a teacher.

I had wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl.  I had the courage to go back to school as a young mom in my late twenties and began teaching as my second career.  Ah…I loved it!  But the demands as a teacher were more than I could do and still pursue my other dreams of writer and writing coaching, so I didn’t renew my contract.

Enter, new phase in my life.  I’ve ALWAYS worked, and now I got to trust what came next.  Granted, I was lost.  I felt I had lost my tribe and that I didn’t belong anywhere and that I was alone on my journey.  Enter, my friend, who is a counselor.  He was EXCITED about my new journey and said I was RIPE for discovery and he couldn’t believe all that was out there for me.  You should have seen his face, grinning ear to ear, as if he knew a secret that I didn’t know.  Then, add in to the conversation, I’m about to take a trip across America with my husband for two and half weeks, and I thought he would vault out of the chair, and the grin that I didn’t think could get bigger, took up his whole face.

That’s when he let me in on the secret of “Chautauqua.   The way he introduced it to me was that I go into my travels without any expectations.  Be open.  Be honest.  Enjoy.   Also, not to hold on to any specific outcomes.  I took all this to mean ABSORB.  My great mantra of #ILivePoetry was my first thought….treat each day as a poetic experience.  What do I see?  really see?  What if I stop and notice more?  What if I take pictures from the under sides of things?     What do I hear?  Songs of the cicada? Ocean waves?   What do I taste?  Are there new tastes? New food?  Old favorites in a new way?  Experience it all.

Being open to an experience and drinking….no GULPING it in is way different than just doing it.  I LIVED it.  I truly “lived poetry.”  My take on poetry is that it’s the best words, in the best order, in the tiniest of packages but the most explosive of moments.  I truly got to live my live.  Then suddenly, the worries diminish, life’s blessings show up in the most unusual ways.  I noticed things in ways and places I hadn’t before.

In the next couple of weeks, I will randomly post my experiences.  I thought I might go by towns and stops along the way…not sure how it will look, just sharing.  It will be poetry unfolding.   And as I showcase my experiences, you’ll see my definition of a Chautauqua.  Namaste my friends.