Tags
guest post, nomadic life, nomads, snail mail, sonder, travel
I’ve been on the move again. Ra, over at rarasaur has put together a series of articles called the Sonder Files.
From The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows:
Sonder n. The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
Sonder: The profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passed in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it.
My guest post, as part of Ra’s Sonder Files, is about how her life intersected with mine in an unexpected way. We have never met, and maybe never will, but our lives have intersected, yes, on the Internet, but also in real life, when snail mail caught up with me.
Head on over and take a look: Snail Mail
Photos of the day:
Above – Day’s end, Tallow Beach, NSW, Australia
Below – Street art, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2016.
Incredible. But then after twenty-seven years as a therapist and mental health director, I can say with certainty, that bloggers are the most incredible people, especially Alison and Rara, but then I am a virgo, so probably biased. Bloggers enrich my life. Rock on Alison & Don!
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Thanks Cindy ❤
You're another Virgo. Of course. I knew there was something about you that resonated apart from your wonderful photographs!
Bloggers enrich my life too – bloggers like you and Ra.
Alison ❤
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Great Post
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Thank you so much Mukul.
Alison
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welcome
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Hi Alison and Don, Having just caught up with Julie after her epic trip to India I somehow feel more connected to you again. Your story reminds me of one of my own. I am sure that you are aware that there is a Post Office barrel on Floreana Isand in the Galapagos where travellers can leave a message, post card, letter….Later travellers can pick up a letter at random and post it when they get home. There is no guarantee that any letter will be picked up or how long it will take to get to its destination. When we visited in 2013 I saw a post card addressed to someone in Sydney. I put it in a safe place when we arrived home and forgot about it. I found it the other day, put on a stamp and mailed it. I have no idea if the recipients or the senders are even still alive, and I didn’t put my name or address on it so I will never know. I sometimes wonder if the post-card arrived and how the recipients reacted. Another one for the Sonder Files.
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I’m looking forward to catching up with Julie myself! I think a Skype date is in order. I do know the post office barrel on Floreana. We were there in 2014 and I left all my postcards to be mailed from Ecuador in that barrel! I have not heard yet of any of them being delivered. I did collect a postcard addressed to people in Canberra knowing I’d be there about nine months later. The recipients had moved. Through finding them on Facebook, and then through finding their parents (who’d left the card) I was able to find their new address. Too funny. When we arrived to deliver it he was naked and had to walk past the open front door to get something to cover himself with. The delivery had all the fizzle of a deflated balloon. Another good sonder 🙂
Alison
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Just read Snail Mail over at Ra’s place. Super awesome (more so than usual…if that’s possible). Will you still be in SMA this summer? I’m thinking of going to the States, but don’t know yet, and if I do, I’m thinking Mexico might be a stop on the way. Oh, and if you ever feel like you do need to get mail where ever you are, I use a service called EZ4U. My mail goes to an address, and then it gets mailed to where ever I am.
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Thanks BF. I do think my writing is slowly improving.So far we plan to be in SMA at least until the end of March, or more likely until the end of May. We have a flight booked back to Vancouver May31. We’ll be in Van for either June and July, or June thru Oct – haven’t decided yet. When were you thinking you’ll be in Mexico?
Alison
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I learned a new word today – sonder. Love this, Alison. Hope you two are having your rest in Mexico and that you are getting your health in order. Hugs, Kay
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Thanks Kay. Isn’t sonder a great word. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a website and YouTube channel created by John Koenig that defines neologisms for emotions that do not have a descriptive term. He’s creating new words.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictionary_of_Obscure_Sorrows
We are resting a lot! And doing a lot of healing though I get a bit impatient at times.
Hugs from us, Alison
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Awesome! Your writing is so beautiful it is always a pleasure to get one of your posts on my inbox.
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Thanks so much Gilda. I’m glad you’re enjoying my posts. Lots more to come 🙂
Alison
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I love snail mail and do a happy dance when the rare letter, card or postcard shows up in my mail box here in Spain. Of course we have just about everything on line now too and the rest goes to my daughter´s address. She sends on anything important and saves the rest for when I see her. (She gets rid of the junk which has diminished) Your post is amazing and could very well be the start of an intriguing book!
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Thanks Darlene. I think it might be included in a book. There is a book in me waiting to be written that’s for sure. I’ve been writing a little but soon I think I’ll get down to something more serious.
Alison
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Your blog has proven your exceptional writing skills. You should have no difficulty penning a novel or two.
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gentle evokes a pace of movement
that suites me
& my garden’s visitors 🙂
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Thank you
we like gentle too
welcome
a nuestro jardin 🙂
Alison
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Wonderful story of interconnection, and thanks for introducing me to a fresh new blogging face! I love both of your photos today; they are very different but both have a warm glow that appeals to me.
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Thank you so much. The interconnections between us all are so complex and undeniable and simple whether we’ve actually met or not, either online or in real life. I sometimes look at people on the street differently now.
Isn’t Ra wonderful?! She’s always worth reading.
I had fun choosing the pics for this post – something warm, but not too strong a statement. The Mexican street art photo is just small part of a large mural – I’ll publish more of it eventually. Oh and I changed the background colour. Because I can 🙂
Alison
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Great connections-
A fellow Virgo.
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Thanks sidran. I agree – great connections. Always good to connect with another Virgo!
Alison
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Trotted over to rarasaur and read your blog, Alison. She sounds like she would be interesting to follow, so I hit the follow button. I remember many years ago reading the old tales about how sailors would leave behind letters at selected locations with hopes that they would someday reach the person they were addressed to. It seemed romantic to me at the time. Still does. –Curt
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Ra’s great. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her. She’s a very gifted writer, and very community oriented. All the mail I left in the barrel (following the old tradition of the whalers) on Floreana Island, Galapagos, sits there still as far as I know. No one yet has told me they received a postcard from me from Ecuador, but I live in hope 🙂
The whalers would all stop at Floreana before their return voyage to North America because they could fill up on fresh water there.
Alison
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I already enjoyed one of Ra’s posts this morning. Sorry about the mail. What I remember from the first time I read about it on the South Island in New Zealand, it could take years! 🙂 –Curt
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A few years ago, I returned from a trip outside of Alaska (which has way more land than people) and told my husband how overwhelmed I had felt flying into the Seattle airport, looking at all those rooftops, and trying to envision the myriad complicated lives going about their daily business below. It hit me again in the airport. Thousands of separate lives, so important to themselves and so marginal to others. It’s both melancholy-making and imagination-provoking. Sweet to put a word on that complicated feeling. Sonder it is.
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Isn’t sonder a great word. And I agree, it’s both melancholy-making and imagination-provoking. Mostly for me it stirs my imagination. I watch people from time to time and make up stories about them. All of us, each one, living our own story, and yet connected, all connected. I think if we would all remember this sameness and connection the world would be a happier place.
Alison
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What a very beautiful story of friendship and genuine human connection.
I often think about the interconnectedness between people, the world over. How much the same we really all are. The more I travel, the more I realize this.
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Thanks so much Peta. It always amazes me the way we all connect/interconnect. I think there are no accidents, as if there really is some greater energy of love moving us all. We always meet the people we’re meant to meet, either in real life or online. And yes, the same as you – the more I travel the more I understand how much the same we all are.
Alison
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You have taught me a new word Alison. SONDER I’ve Googled it and been on a journey of discovery. thank you. I followed your snail mail link to read your sonder story. I put a comment over there…
“This is a truly magical story, the spirit of sonder in action. Your writing tugs the heart strings Alison, I long to know more of Ra’s story, where is she now, what is she doing, why was she in prison, is she still blogging, maybe under another name? The questions are endless. I hope your snail mail reaches its destination. I also hope you are now resting and recovering in your new space. I do admire you both for taking life by its throat and I look forward to receiving your posts that transport me into your world.”…
Then I realised I was actually on Ra’s blog, so now I will look forward to following this inspirational person.
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Thank you so much pommepal. It was Ra that taught me the word ‘sonder’. Isn’t she wonderful. I’ve been following her for a few years now and she is indeed inspirational. I’m delighted you’re going to follow her blog too. She’s worth reading for sure.
We are settled in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for a few months. It’s nice to stay put for a while.
Blessings, Alison
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San Miguel de Allende sounds so exotic
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SMA is actually quite European, old European. The Centro is a Spanish Colonial World Heritage Site. There’s a large ex-pat population here which means you can buy just about whatever you would want and there are good medical services. At the same time it’s very Mexican with wonderful fiestas just about every month.
Alison
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Sounds a lovely place to call home for a while I look forward to seeing more of it in your blog.
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beautiful colours and leading lines feels like I’m there ☺️
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Thanks Hedy 🙂
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☺️ thank you!
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