The Gilded Journey

"Cast off your moorings from the land of fear and doubt, leave the prisons of despair and melancholy and set sail on a gilded journey..."

 

During my morning reading I was captivated by the above quote.   I was particularly enamored by the phrase "gilded journey."  You could do a whole discussion group on it's interpretation. The only problem is that after I centered a whole blog post around this lovely phrase, I realized I had misread the original quote.  It should have said, "Cast off your moorings from the land of fear and doubt, leave the prison of despair and melancholy and set sail on a guided journey where the stars are in their appointed places and the voyage is beautiful and safe."  (Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood.)  Well I love the corrected quote, but I still prefer the "gilded journey."   And I ceratinly prefer uncharted territory over guided and safe.  All expats have that bit of adventurer in them. My mother-in-law says that my husband and I are the most adventuresome people she knows and I take that as the highest compliment although I am not sure she meant it quite that way.  I think there was a little bit of a mother's "what about retirement" worry in her voice. Anyway let's get back to the gilded journey.    My literary dyslexia illustrates a life lesson I am continually learning - that even our mistakes can be beautiful mishaps solely due to our interpretation of the situation.   I remember years ago singing robustly in the shower what I thought were the beautiful lyrics to a popular song.  They were beautiful lyrics, but they were also incorrect. (I am famous in my household for this.)  Well it appears I have done it again!  Nevertheless, I will sing with gusto my own song with words of my own making for the sun is rising upon a new horizon this morning, and truly - life is a gilded journey!