My Many Affairs, Far From Home

08. Jun, 2010 Categories: Events and Adventures by Elizabeth Potts Weinstein View Comments

It’s true, I do have an apartment in San Francisco.

My first grown-up private space where I make all the decisions, full of white walls and serenity and only those things with which I have fallen in love.

But that is not the only place where my soul is at peace.

Where I explore my passions and push my boundaries. Where I leave pieces of my heart.

Chicago Midway is one such place.

I’m here now, sitting in the bar, writing and watching and nursing a beer.

The white noise, the energy moving through this place, is meditative and exciting and inspirational.

Everyone is a walking story.

With new babies and on honeymoons, traveling to their grandmother’s funeral or to the birthday party of their best friend from college, going on the Hawaii vacation they’ve been saving for for five years or to the first meeting with the long distance lover they found online, on their way to close the big business deal or to make that one last desperate pitch so they can meet their commission quota for the month.

I love exploring to hunt down the secret empty seats, the desperate search for electric plugs as my iPhone hits 10%, questing for the one place that might actually serve something vegetarian besides a plastic bowl of iceberg gopped with ranch dressing.

Feeling absolutely alone yet pulled into the rhythm of boarding, the herd exiting planes and flowing towards baggage claim, people moving in and out of the seats at the bar as their time comes.

Always on my way to or from my adventure.

Connecting with the closest friends I have ever had. Spreading the world about Live Your Truth. Sliding down ziplines or dancing in clubs until 4 in the morning or driving 3 hours to get a tattoo.

Long walks flowing with the walk signs, randomly exploring a city. Toes sinking into the sand along the ocean while avoiding the cold waves as they chase us, the tide coming in. Endless conversations over endless martinis, wondering if we’ll be thrown out for laughing too hard. Finding the nearest Starbucks at 7:30 am and at 11:00 pm, gossiping about the laptop screens we’re reading over shoulders. Sitting silently in an empty bistro patio, smoking and listening to the trains shake their way through the city. Walking the entire length of the Las Vegas strip in search of a Walgreens.

I can write in these places. Think. Be inspired.

Hear the truth that lies dormant when I’m moving through my ordinary life.

I need my home to be nowhere, I need my home to be everywhere, for me to feel how to be all of myself.

Where do you love to be, besides your home?

Where is your office away from the office?

Where do you go to think, to write, to feel at peace, to be yourself?

Related posts:

  1. Sorry, I Don’t Have Any Angst Tonight.
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  • My office-away-from-home seems to always be in a coffee shop or cafe. Someplace where I can keep filling my cup, occasionally eat, and be in the energetic flow of humanity, and yet be in my own little world at my table, with no need to talk to anyone (though I do).

    I did this many times a week when I had a working laptop and have been in withdrawal for these past months since laptop video card died. Have not found a way to get out among people AND continue working, unless i move to pen and paper (which I can do for some tasks).

    To think and write and be at peace, i would be out in nature, the wind tickling my skin, the sun keeping me warm, the grass soft on my bare feet.
  • Friday morning, I asked Best Beloved how she'd feel about becoming nomads. Give up the house and eventually the car, take what we can carry (leave my vast library with trusted friends) and our laptops (which we don't own yet) and live wherever we happen to be. (Freudian slip: I typed 'love' instead of 'live' and had to correct; erm, change it.)

    She neither burst into tears, nor ran screaming. Instead, she said "Let's take the day off and go for a drive." Which is her way of making a space, right now, to absorb a life-altering possibility.

    And then she spent the weekend tossing shoes, bagging up old clothes, and getting ready for launch. While I was moving our entire business into the cloud.

    We plan on dipping our toes in the water by end of summer, and jumping into the deep end within a year (the deep end meaning being truly international vagabonds.)

    I feel both insaner and saner than I've ever felt in my life right now.
  • amazing story, what a remarkable relationship you have to go from suggestion to implementation so quickly. Congratulations!!
  • She is the most amazing person I know, and yeah, our relationship is an absolute wonder. We're together virtually 24/7 and last night as she was falling asleep I leaned over and told her that we needed more time together, and she opened her eyes and said, yeah, we do.

    Wild synchronicity: we mentioned this to some folks we know in Canada. One family said come, stay as long as you like, we have two spare bedrooms. The other, midway between us and Family #2 said we're going on vacation and need a house/dog sitter for three weeks in August; could you come and stay in our cottage outside Vancouver?
  • I absolutely love to people watch... I really put the "I" in introvert too because I am SO much more comfortable sitting back and watching, listening and being on the periphery, than I am being in the middle of the crowd and the chaos...

    and airports are a perfect place for that... and beaches... and starbucks :)

    I love being in new environments and seeing cool things. I am not a tourist... The only touristy thing I ever wanted to do was go to Alcatraz when I was in SF, but I got outvoted (yes, should have gone by myself... because my mom, aunt and grandmother, went... wait for it... shopping!! seriously, I can do that anywhere!)

    Anyway - totally get the adventure vibe and so glad that you discovered yours and are navigating it :)
  • Being in nature, quiet places, and being in or near water are some inspirational places that also find me gaining more clarity in my thinking. I love smells, textures, sounds, tastes and beauty- using all my senses.

    Gardens, the ocean, trails with trees and rocks and ferns, and even the desert are all places that soothe me. Nature feeds my soul and also provides me often with profound thoughts. These are the places that motivate me to meditate,contemplate, be present with what is going on at that moment in time, and to eventually write down those thoughts and take photos so I can revisit the beauty whenever I want to recall those wonderful feelings that everything is right in my world.
  • Bob Dillon
    This post really embraces my love of experiences, and why they are good for my soul. They fill me with smiles, thoughts, ideas, and happiness. There is a joy to being anonymous with everyone. Thanks for capturing your moment perfectly.
  • lipdesign
    I can feel your heart and soul in this. What a beautifully written post ... and super life lesson. So on that note, I'm taking this as a cue to step away from the kitchen table, go out and have an adventure. Even if it's just to grab a loaf of bread and dinner for tonight!

    Thanks for sharing and inspiring. Can't wait to see how all this new energy plays out with you over the next few weeks.
  • Love how you put the spin on anything can be made into an adventure when approached with such an intention! ;)
  • lipdesign
    I'm learning from the best, Amy. Before I read this it would have just been an errand. Elizabeth's perspective prompted me set the intention! :D
  • Oh sigh. I love airports and train stations. Maybe train stations more because they tend to be of relatively old architecture at least in their bones. But oddly, I hate Amtrak. (another story for another time).
    I used to think that I was a wanderer and full of the ability to change with the moment's notice. but now, I think it's a steadier sort of adventure - lol. I love my home. I love my dogs and I love being surrounded by those I love. But I still crave the solitude that comes from watching the world go by and imagining the stories and lives that each of us has inside.
    Lovely prose here and I can feel and smell and see what you're saying. awesome.
  • Pam
    This post reminds me of Alanis Morissette's "Citizen of the Planet."

    I love the almost stream-of-consiousness style of your writing, and to be able to experience your experiences, through the tastes, and smells, and sights that pop off the page.

    Totally cool.
  • Hi Elizabeth,

    Beautiful piece! Once you wake up, the world becomes magical, mystical and magnificent. Every moment becomes an adventure taking it all in.

    I really relate to walking the LV strip in search of a Walgreens.

    During a trip I took alone to Greece, I spent an entire day in Athens with a nice guy I met at a bus stop looking for a transformer so I could clean my contact lenses. We went from tiny shop to tiny shop where this stranger now acquaintance went in and asked in Greek if they had a transformer for US products.

    7 hours later I proudly returned to my room with a gigantic transformer. Good lord, it must have weighed 10 pounds. Needless to say, I left it behind ... but not the memory of finding it.

    Thx. Giulietta, always musing
  • I love you and almost cried thinking of how many of those awesomely ordinary (yet extraordinary) things we did together in the past year. Sitting in those empty chairs under the El and *ahem* Friday night (despite all of the people telling us what we "had" to do, eat and see while in Chicago) was just perfect. Walgreens is always perfect. And the flow knowing that the across-the-street fake Starbucks was not what we needed and thus taking us blocks away -- that's how I know everything is working for us and in our favor.

    And you so perfectly articulated how I, too, felt in those alone hours in Midway just the day before. Many (most?) ppl would stress over those hours of being alone w "nothing" to do but wait. You and I, on the other hand, embraced it and probably won't soon forget it. (And I know I wish I had it once a week!)

    xo ~ Alli
  • Yes. I do more and get more by doing nothing with you than any tours or official adventures or guidebooks could ever do for me.

    And yes, let's schedule more nothing into our lives. Places to do nothing. Create more space.

    #loveyou
  • I am so with you! I (mother of 2, biz owner....) struggle so much with routine and being stationary. I have many opportunities for mini adventures, and enjoy NYC, wilderness trips, random silly and crazy nights with friends/cousins...BUT I need more to clear my head, to get inspired and to write. I need to feel a sense of freedom and expansion.

    So I totally love what you wrote. People, change, noise..it helps me too. In May I got to go on an adventure to Nicaragua - it combined my passions of travel, people, nutrition and nature. This was a real adventure, not a resort trip or pre-arranged scheduled trip. How it fed my soul! So much that I am goinging to organize an adventure (non)retreat for women business owners (who are moms) for next spring. A chance to connect, explore, grow and transform and to really come alive! I realized that adventure needs to be part of my business model.

    Love your stuff :) Thanks!
  • Awesome re Nicaragua - and I love the idea of adventures for mom biz owners! So many women need this and many will not find it for themselves.

    Thank you! :)
  • Alison Kramer
    I love this. Maybe because it is so simple or because there is a quiet truth to it that i understand.
    i am a wanderer at heart. Yesterday, we chatted about flying (which i don't like) but i LOVE airports. The transient vibe, all the stories, the moments - partings, meetings, journeys.
    One of my very special memories is sitting in the middle of the night at a busy park in NYC with a friend, watching life all around us. The buzz of life, and taking it all in and being a part of it. That is my favourite memory of my favourite place.

    beautiful Elizabeth, thank you for sharing it
  • That is such a beautiful moment, Alison. And yes, some of my most special moments are just like that, sitting and watching the world go by. I could do that for hours (and have) - maybe someday I will do that for days ....
  • meganmatthieson
    If I was excited before about going on my next adventure....now I'm triply excited. I, like you, need my home to be everywhere. There's something about a new environment. But I can't tell you where the inspiration takes place. It just happens. Does changing the outside change the inside? Or just nudge you awake? Thanks for sharing your life-grabbing ....it's contagious.
  • I think it's both ... the most profound thing is that it nudges me awake, but also being exposed to new people / places / energy does bring in that outside inspiration, not really *changing* me but incorporating the new into the framework of who I really am.
  • meganmatthieson
    And you got to meet Ken! I love that.
  • :) yes. and I can testify that Ken is the same person in the face-to-face world as he has been to me in the virtual world. #yay
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