One step closer to me
By Shaggy

How far is a journey of a thousand miles? Mathematicians compute the distance at 1,609 kilometers. Astronomers calculate it to be roughly the radius of the moon. Poets bewail that it is the unbridgeable chasm between two lovers' hurting hearts. While lovers on the other hand swear by all that is holy that it is but a short distance to walk to be beside their one true love. I don't know . . . I never was one for direct answers.

If you were to ask me, I'd say a journey of a thousand miles is a thousand AND one things. It is the firm but warm handshake of a village elder as he welcomes you to his home. It is the smile on children's faces while they wave goodbye to you as your rickety bus passes them by.

It is the sound of laughter and song around a blazing campfire. It is the deafening silence deep inside the bowels of a cave. It is the bone-rattling cold that stabs you at dawn high atop a forbidding mountain peak. It is the balmy wind that gently brushes your face at dusk along an isolated strip of beach. It is a sumptuous feast laid out before you at a town fiesta. It is a small piece of moldy bread you and your companions must share for the rest of the trip. It is the exhilaration of effortlessly climbing up a towering limestone wall. It is the cold sweat that breaks out when you realize that it is indeed a long way to fall should you lose your grip. It is the coppery taste of blood mixed with dirt as one's face unceremoniously kisses the earth on a screaming downhill descent. It is the soothing balm of friendship as your buddies try to patch you up with bandages and with words of comfort. It is an intimate secret shared by two underneath a blanket of stars on a night both wish would never end. It is the aching emptiness that gnaws at one's insides as friends and lovers go their own separate ways at journey's end.

AND then another journey begins . . .

So just exactly how far is a journey of a thousand miles? I don't know.

If you want exact answers, ask the mathematician, astronomer, poet & lover. They have all the answers. As for me, I'm just a traveler rambling down the same road as you - dazed and confused but loving every minute of it. I have been fortunate enough to shake the hands of princes and paupers. I have been doubly blessed to dine with sinners and saints.
I have seen countless faces and places, the memories of which I all hold dear. I have sleepwalked through endless days and daydreamed through sleepless nights, all these on my journey of a thousand miles. Though admittedly I may not know much, of this one thing I am sure; with each and every step I take, I find myself one step farther from where I once was. But then again, with each and every step I make, I find myself one step closer to me.