Stepping Stones © 2013 Bo Mackison
This is a post assembled partly while thinking about last night’s dream and partly while checking my emails this morning — makes for an interesting juxtaposition of ideas.
The dream? A long walk across water on huge, irregular stepping-stones. The stones could have been a replica set designed by the creators of Stonehenge, the ancient English site of healing, ritual, and worship, but also a funerary and a celestial observatory. In the dream, I cautiously, tentatively, cross a sparkling turquoise-blue bay, intent on reaching the shore of pebbly rocks that always are just out of my reach.
Then came my morning message from Tut, a humorous, motivational email that I read every weekday. It informed me that today, June 19th, is World Sauntering Day. Tut provided a link as confirmation, and sure enough, today IS National Sauntering Day, a day dedicated to the art of sauntering.
According to Wikipedia – a source I trust on this sort of trivia – World Sauntering Day is thought to have started at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan in the 1970s. “The Grand Hotel has the world’s longest porch, 660 feet in length. It was a counter response by W.T.Rabe to a growing movement toward the recreation of jogging. The idea of the day was to encourage people to slow down and appreciate the world around them.” Love the idea of a sauntering day!
According to Thesaurus.com, synonyms for sauntering include:
amble
linger
meander
mosey
promenade
ramble
roam
sashay
tarry
traipse
wander
So today I intend to take a saunter around the neighborhood pond, wander through the grocery store, and meander in my garden. It will be a nice counter-point to the arduous struggle I encountered in my dream, leaping from one low stone to another, then swimming to the next stone, taller and angular, which I climbed with the strength of a fingernail grip.
Now I only wish I could promenade on the 660 foot long porch of The Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island this evening as sunset drifts into twilight.
Maybe in my next dream…
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She explores wherever she travels, even in her dreams.
About Bo Mackison
I didn’t know about Sauntering Day, but I did “saunter” this afternoon. In a heavy rain. It was more like “slogging”.
Great idea. I usually seem to be running to the train or the next appointment.
Love the idea of ‘sauntering’…of ‘meandering’…of simply wandering and enjoying the day! Beautiful!
World Sauntering Day! Who knew? I love the idea of sauntering. I meander a lot, but maybe I should try sauntering. 🙂
I once had a shirt that proclaimed me a member of the “Thoreau Sauntering Club.” Wish I still had that shirt, and wish I’d known about Sauntering Day. Reckon I’ll just go declare my own Sauntering Day and be done with it, eh? Yes.