Disclaimer: The creation of this blogpost occurred with a time delay. While the photo above was taken past Saturday, the accompanying text you are currently reading was written with a temporal gap, nearly a whole week later.
“There are many, very many things that were like that. But you know what also did me a lot of good?”
“…”
“That we discussed Sarah’s latest blog post together. Opinions, reactions, memories, sharing them together, sitting side by side, in person. You know what I mean?”
“…”
“Oh, yes. Of course, these four times we could do that in person were still not often enough. It’s always not often enough. But what a long overdue gift that has been. I, as an eternal-sentimental and equally nostalgic person, valued it so much to not only read that “Ichigo Ichie” in Sarahs post together but also to savor it, to explain it to each other – right here at the end and as a conclusion to my journey. With mutual grins and all. Oh. As beautiful as the former exchange of personal thoughts and views has been and continues to be – being able to celebrate it in the same place for a certain time is so unbelievably much more and can only be partially put into words.
“…”
“Sarah’s last blog post expresses exactly what the essence of our adventure was. Oh my. How much I admire her for that precision and sensitivity and how much I envy her ability too to simply get to the point and express essentials in less than ten lines! I will probably always remain the “eternal rambler”. The one who gets lost in endlessly long, nested sentences, with numerous enumerations, sometimes full of kitsch and cheesy things and also many, more or less irrelevant things – just like right now.
“…”
“Let me get back to the essential stuff! Her words about us experiencing so much together – so much that it would certainly be too much to mention everything and all of it, are so true too! But not only that! Her words about us being unable to do everything we had planned to do are, at least in my opinion and for my understanding of life & travelling, even true-er! It was such a pleasure for me to “accept & learn” that it’s simply impossible to get a “100% achievement” like in videogames and that’s it’s so very okay to just…not do everything! As with many things it’s making me smile in hindsight about how we grew into doing things the easygoing way. How we developed this growing, relaxed confidence to elegantly and joyfully postpone certain things to the next time we will meet. To change a formerly strict “must” into a free and reliefed “instead”. Oh, and then her words in her article about “Legendary Murphy’s Law”! Again, in retrospect, I must say that the joy of its presence, that it was actually our loyal, third companion over certain stretches, outweighs everything else! Of course, I’ve witnessed it several times – when Sarah’s anticipation of so many planned things got changed into some sad disappointment. But my oh my. How much I loved to see how that kind of sadness, over time, evolved into some good reason to laugh freely together about Murphy’s Law and how it affected both of our lives during the past give weeks from time to time! But not only that! It was also another main reason for all the fun and joy we had – the joy of rearranging plans, discovering other, unplanned things and places due to that Murphy! I don’t know how many times we ended up in yet another beautiful surroundings or situation – ones that we could have never imagined beforehand. So wonderful! Indeed, we really made the most of everything and always made the best of our joint adventure – just as Sarah already said! There are so many memorable moments between and after unplanned, closed restaurant doors, unavailable ferries, surprising transmission-lamps or disfunctional train-engines. Let me raise my glass to Sarah’s ingenuity and unwavering flexibility in finding a Plan B! And also to the healed blisters on her feet!
“…”
“Oh yes. What a unique time, what a journey!
“And what a proof that any expectations of and around unfamiliar places and people are actually completely overrated!”
“Oh yes, how true, how true! Expectations are so often just awkward. And all too often, they also obscure the authentic beauty of the actual! The underlying may sometimes be a bit rougher than one wished and imagined, but it is the key to discovering true freedom! It’s nice, at least, that you’re chiming in now! I didn’t expect that and honestly…it also scares me a little now!
“…”
“Oh okay. It’s “back to silence” for you again, I see. But speaking about fears. There is one thing I am quite afraid afraid of. Actually I would say that it’s more a thing that I am not directly afraid of but something that gives me a big worry. Could also be that you’re playing a role in that special worry I got.”
“…”
“I already assumed that you wouldn’t say anything or that much about that now! But that’s okay! Don’t worry. What’s really making me think and worry about is, especially for me as such a forgetful member of mankind, that many things and memories may be forgotten over time and that many of my experiences and memories will certainly fade over time. And thus lose their “freshness of the now”! Ideally, yes, ideally, I would take many, if not all, of those memories and put them into small jars like cucumbers or sauerkraut and preserve them with the best spices, salt, and vinegar for many years! I know, it’s some kind of silly comparison but then I would indeed love to keep all those memories fresh just like Pickles and Sauerkraut – preserved forever, always ready to be re-opened and freshly re-lived again and again.
“…”
“I guess it’s one of those sad, silly and illusory wishes of humanity, right? Capturing the moment with a smartphone or DSLR. To safely store it onto high-bandwith memory. Or to develop it as a photo. And yet, both fade over time. Digital and analog. Faded Prints, corrupted memory blocks. Oh, this transience. Sad and yet somehow romantically beautiful at the same time.
“…”
“But then…on second thought…it’s not that sad at all. Actually it’s the opposite. Precisely the opposite. Maybe even more the opposite once our way’s have parted! Because everything goes really deep here! Maybe even to a place where it’s not about those aforementioned worries at all. This goes hand in hand with the fact that this journey is one of these rare things where I can say something in general again. It’s so seldom I can do that. In most cases something is just “partly good”. Or great but with a but. Here it’s different. And as unbelievable as it may sound – I’m grateful for just everything I’ve seen, witnessed, been part of in general! And this not only includes but is especially due to all the small problems that occasionally arose in the past weeks. Interestingly, there really were only small problems I encountered. That one runaway bus in the rain at Rhode Island University Memorial Lane, the non-dispensing drink vending machine at Kingston Station (I should indeed have taken the warning on the machine seriously) or the Corona Virus that haunted late-night show hosts on Broadway just on the day of my visit. All of these were just some kind of “luxury problems”, as they say over here in Austria. This realization beats all my worries actually, it’s a big trump I completely forgot that I held it in my hands all the times! Parts will certainly get lost over time, parts will simply fade out. But with all the factors combined here – all those deeply personal memories, my journey being generally an outstandingly great one and my thankfulness for having such a unique blog- and travelcompanion, adventurer, guide and above all: a great and dear friend by my side – it’s very, very likely that some things will remain by nature…as cheesy as this sounds…yet again.
“…”
“One more glass to that revelation! Oh, and please an additional one to the wonders of technology in general too! That travellers like me are even able to capture hundreds of moments at every place and at any time – with tiny, little devices that are not much bigger than the palms of my hands! This glas also counts for the fact that nowadays’ technology also makes it so easy and possible to express and present oneself in so many uncomplicated ways! In the past, not too long ago? A lonely privilege for a very limited number of people and professions – to write a few travel thoughts for a newspaper article or to write a whole book about a longer journey, to name just two examples of past times. And today? Whether tired or not: you sit down, turn on the computer, start typing, and reach out to an audience through the World Wide Web with just a few mouse clicks or finger swipes away. It’s crazy. The good kind of crazy! And it doesn’t matter whether I’m writing a serious article or whether I’m writing a sentimental dialogue about the conclusion of perhaps the most beautiful journey of my life so far between me and my externalized jet lag! Oh, talking about you. To whom am I talking actually to, I mean, how do I address you now? Is *the jetlag* actually a He, She, or It?
“Whatever you want. I am okay with every one – be it this or that gender or anything in between or outside the usual!”
“Good and nice to know! Best fodder for my playful, still quite tired, imagination! Can I tell you something truly funny here at the very end of our diagloue?”
“Sure!”
“Even if all my souvenirs might be stolen or even if all my storage devices with all my vacation’s photos and videos might be erased by a blackout and even if each and every one of my imaginary jars of “pickled memories” might begin to fade away over time…there’s one heartwarming and true story “out there” that makes me grin inside and out with an undescribable, actually even absolute confidence regarding all of my thoughts and worries I mentioned before. It’s also what makes me so confident that there are parts in us humans that won’t become a victim to time and forgetfulness.”
“Which one?!”
“Ever since I’m back here in Ausrtria. Even on my flight back home or the final days I was in NYC. It’s that I feel in big, very big parts like Erwin Kreuz did many, many years ago, Hon!”
“Who is Erwin Kreuz?”
“He was a former brewery employee from Germany. I won’t reveal more here for you, friend. I’m leaving you with this cliffhanger. Just like another, very, very good and close but for parts also quite mean friend from Rhode Island usually does! Please feel free to look the whole story about and around Erwin Kreuz up on the internet, my friend. All I will say for today is that it’s a story about how sometimes the most beautiful, unique and unforgettable things can arise from unplanned things and “Happy Accidents” that happen far away from the usual, from home. And how deep and firm memories, especially memories full of gratitude and joy, can be anchored in a human being…
I’ll wrap things up here, my friend. There is one more, final “High Five” and bow to Sarah and her blogpost from two weeks ago: it’s the same question for me now. About when we can work out to meet again. But there’s also an additional one that haunts my mind. That’s it’s not just only about the “when” but also about the “where”. Oh my. Fodder for my phantasy again. But that’s again a story of itself and maybe one for another blogpost of its own.”
Q26G+XF New York City, New York, USA
