The roving life

One of the questions I have always been asked is why I never really settled down or settled?

It's difficult to explain. For me, I have always been fascinated by different cultures, meeting new people and learning new languages. I consider myself to be a partime rover as I have tended to stay in places longer than most roving people do. So why the fascination.....?

Well for one thing, you have more than one home. Establishing new relationships and lifelong friendships means you will always be welcome at the table when passing through and no one judges you; they just accept who you are.

Life also has a special rhythm. For most life is linked by holidays and special times of the year. Life events when roving are measured by the phase of our life or an event that we go through be it good or bad. It's kind of refreshing to have this in your life because all of your life events are linked by the unique country that you are in.

Everyone has heard "the world is your oyster". Well literally this rings true for people that rove. Your horizons widen. Places that you were taught about and read about as a child or teen become real. The wonders of the world become a thing that you experience rather than a thing that you read about or watch on TV. There is something romantic about this which always draws me to it. But more than that, it makes me more accepting in life and the challenges of life.

Finally, I feel lucky and blessed. Not everyone can do what I have done. Nor does everyone want to do what I have done. There is some sacrifice. I don't have a 'normal life'. I don't have the white picket fence, the dog named spot or the 2.5 (or is it 3.5 children) these days.....Sometimes I am envious of those who have that life but then I remember I could never settle down as there is something ingrained in me that makes me want this type of life......

Katherine Anne Porter once wrote "I was always restless, always a roving spirit. When I was a little child I was always running away. I never got very far, but they were always having to come and fetch me. Once when I was about six, my father came to get me somewhere I'd gone and he told me later he'd asked me, "Why are you so restless? Why can't you stay with us?" and I said to him, I want to go and see the world. I want to know the world like the palm of my hand."