The Traveler Card

It could have been a jester wrapped in shrink wrap or a prince who danced who spoke to me. To go or stay I didn’t know. I didn’t know as I drove to see a friend— we’d just worked together at a store but she left. I followed the signs to a new place. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Trees and parks and rows of houses rolled past and played out scenes of my life. I passed a quiet stream. I was back from four years of traveling for work following construction crews, a life of hotel rooms a time when I never knew what home was but I followed crews as they built a new world. I look to the sky and wondered if I’d come back for her. Dark clouds passed but I knew it wouldn’t rain. A crown of trees luscious green. In past years, I’d leave and now a voice said wanderlust. But it also said stay. Stay? I would have to learn to live again. Little did I know that in time I’d have to learn to live without her. The jester smiled. a voice inside said that leaving someone was part of the journey but to leave them with love. My car tires sang and the radio played as I drove alone and toward the sun. It was spring, and I knew spring would lead to summer. The card rested on the passenger seat.