No matter what road we travel, all road leads to home

Travelling... leaving home for an exotic and unfamiliar locale surely evokes excitement.

When I was growing up in the sleepy barrio in the Southern Philippines, I am always wondering what lies beyond the mountains and the seas that enclosed my little world. But this notion was in between my preoccupation of trying to get ahead with the childhood game of tumbang preso http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbang_preso so that I won't end up being labeled as bagoong (salted paste made from shrimps and small fish).

Later on in life, I developed an insatiable itch for discovering what lies further the confines of my abode. I considered those travels as one most important chapter of my adult life. These are experiences and memories that like education, are always portable and it goes with you all the time. I was wondering why to some people, traveling

is such a daunting task, an interruption to their prosaic life. As if, they are about to leave their cocoon, that stepping outside their comfort zone is akin to doing a bungee jumping sans the cord or agreeing to marrying a man you met online 15 minutes ago.

What makes the idea of leaving to explore other places very exhilarating to me is the thought that I will be coming back home. That my home will always be there waiting, ready to welcome me unconditionally, no need for reasons for my return; compels me to seek, explore and learn from these foreign domain.

As Japanese poet Sensho (?) asserted , no matter what road we travel, all roads leads to home. And I will be coming home soon.

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The Convivial Gist

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