Moncton, NB.
Remember how I said I didn’t want to drive long hauls? Well, I’m known for breaking my own rules and yesterday I decided to drive the remaining 900km to my first “official” destination- Meagan’s house. The original plan was to go five hours, stop at a campground just inside New Brunswick, then do the last four hours today (Wednesday). Growing up, I did the painfully long drive from Georgia to Ontario a few times each year and I think I’m still a bit scarred from those back-to-back nine hour days. Albeit I was a passenger for those trips, but I was still convinced that being the driver couldn’t be any better than riding shotgun. Maybe it was the absence of city interstate driving, or maybe it was because this trip is running by my own agenda, but this long day actually wasn’t half-bad.
I listened to a few podcasts and some of my favourite playlists, but mostly I drove along to wordless low-fi melodies and stayed in a semi-meditative headspace. I stopped for little walks whenever I felt antsy or my focus started to slip and I reached often for the snacks in my passenger seat. Most of the scenery was rural and I didn’t hit any traffic, even in construction zones. I wasn’t expecting much from any part of the inland drive, so I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the scenery was once I got through Quebec City. This trip has many purposes, one being to challenge mental blocks and unlock new ways of moving through life. I didn’t think much about it when I made the call to keep going yesterday, but I can see now that this was a way of disproving an old belief. The takeaway? Long drives aren’t actually that bad.
I got to Meagan’s around 8:30pm, just as the sun was putting on a vibrant show on the Western side of the sky. I pulled into the parking lot and was greeted by a hug that was well worth every kilometre. I wholeheartedly believe that Meagan is one of the people I’m supposed to know in this life. We’ve technically known each other for fourteen years because we met in grade 8 but I wouldn’t say we were really friends until grade 10 or 11. Some of our first real bonding experiences happened in the art room while we worked on our IB Art projects and shared sketchbook pages with each other. After high school, she went to Guelph and I went to Queen’s but we stayed in each other’s lives; sometimes going months without talking but always reconnecting again like no time had passed. We’ve always understood each other despite taking different life paths and we understand each other on a soul level, always appreciating the unique things that make us each who we are. As I walked towards her front door, I looked up to see four of my stained glass pieces hanging proudly in her window and smiled big. Stepping into her apartment instantly felt like home, even though I’d never been here before.
She showed me around her space, fed me some veggies with homemade hummus (Meagan is the BEST cook), then we headed out for a walk before the sun went down. There’s a trail right behind her place that leads to a marsh and a riverbed. The river (the Petitcodiac) rises and falls with the tide because it’s connected to the Bay of Fundy. The banks of the river are made of thick red clay that made my jaw drop- I had been drooling over the cliffs of wild clay that I passed along the highway but this was a whole new level of cool. I picked up a ball of the magical squishy stuff and started playing with it in my hands. It was so plastic (the term used to describe workable clay) that it could probably be dried and fired into a piece without much processing... Absolutely incredible.
After our walk and some great life chats, we headed back up to her apartment and settled in for the night. She had set up the spare room with mats for a meditation/yoga space and I stretched the knots out of my neck with a full heart before bed. It’s not lost on me how wonderful it is to have friends in your life who understand you so well. Meagan is one of the people who make life make sense and to say I’m looking forward to the next few days of camping and adventures together is an understatement.
Two days down!
