The Journey, Not the Destination

by Deborah Chester (United States of America)

Making a local connection USA

The city that never sleeps; if you can make it here you can make it anywhere; New York. Moving back to this foreign yet familiar place after living a calm, suburban life for ten years in Cleveland, Ohio took some adjusting. The fast-paced upbeat culture of NYC was one that I'd grown distant from. Why did God bring me back to this place? What lesson was being here going to teach me? As time passed I soon began to see not only why I had come back to NYC but for whom. Have you ever met a turning point person? We hear or elders talk about it, those people that come into your life and divide it in two. What your life was before you met them and what it has become after them. Where you let go of what you think your life should be and embrace the flow and the uncertain, scary possibilities of what life could be. Joseph Edwards. Jo for short. Tall, dark-skinned, muscular and tone. God of a man. I’m convinced angels walked before him to clear his path and moved things out of his way so that he could plant each step his feet took in peace. Captivating to many eyes and touching my soul when he looked into mine with his. I was just amazed that there could be someone so cool and unbothered yet I felt the depth and love within him wanting to draw me in. Like a black hole, of infinite energy. Darkness was light in Jo. I felt and knew he was guarded, selective, and secretive. I saw him wearing his armor in his posture and how he stood. Knowing it was caused by things that occurred in his life and I was curious to discover everything that made him who he was. Who would have thought out of the 8.6 million people in New York City I'd be lucky enough to cross paths with Jo while waiting for the J train one summer afternoon in Brooklyn. Our first conversation lasted 4 hours! We talked about the worlds we lived in and how we saw, felt and experienced things. Topics ranging from God, religion, love, sex, trauma, pain, healing, family, culture, fear, faith, traveling, food, music, moving forward, standing still, dreams, ambitions, the past, and the future. It was like I finally met a man who wasn't afraid to “go there” and dive in. Someone who could swim and teach me new techniques. Someone that could pour into me, just as much as I poured into him. A friend to my mind. Who wasn't scared of my complexities but instead embraced them. After four months of consistent dates to museums, concerts, art showcases in Soho, poetry nights in Bedstuy and best of all dinners downtown Brooklyn, Jo had invited me to his apartment for dinner. He had just moved in. Living right around the corner from my childhood home I felt nostalgic. As I rang the bell, Jo opened the door and greeted me with the warmest hug. When I walked in the sweet smell of incenses had filled his living room. After taking off my shoes at the door, I took a moment to stand still and observe his home. We travel to all of these magical and breathtaking places around the world but nothing is as wonderful as seeing someone in their most vulnerable and peaceful space. The place they lay their head at night and call their home. I stood still at the door so that I could see things about Jo that he wouldn’t have the words to tell me about himself. I saw that he was organized, detailed oriented, and had balance. He lived in each moment and his home was a collection of all of them. We had dinner and then went for a beautiful walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and at that moment I realized that Jo was sent to show me that life isn't always about the destination and where we are trying to go but about the journey, being present and grateful for those connections we make along the way.