Travel Bugg

Coming Home

Photo: Victoria Steinhart
Photo: Victoria Steinhart

I’ve visited a new place every year since I was 17. After constant movement through flights, bus rides and cross-country road trips, it’s curious to come home and be still.

Every day I drive to an office, sit at a computer I can’t afford and process pieces of information for other people’s lives. I help communities know what to do to get ready for school. I tell them the events happening around town. I show them what arrests were made, what votes were taken in their local government, who achieved business success, who lost a son or daughter in an instant.

I look into their lives, but I will never know them. Every motor vehicle accident or wedding announcement will be another piece of data I edit and process before the day is done.

I have become permanent. I have entered reality, the world they tell you about from the time you are small.

They used to ask: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I wanted to be good. I wanted to be kind. I wanted to be loved and admired.

These days, I  want to be brave.

Photo: Victoria Steinhart
Photo: Victoria Steinhart

I don’t want to be fearless. I think fear is healthy and necessary for evolution. I want to do things even when they scare me. I want to do things because they scare me.  Although I have a phobia of falling, I want to jump off the edge of the world.

I don’t intend to stop traveling, writing or quoting inspirational cliches. But I am content to be in Austin.

Adult life. It’s pretty good. I am grateful, and I know I have been given more than I need. I intend to leave something in return, even if it’s a few words on a page.

Thanks for reading.

Photo: Victoria Steinhard
Photo: Victoria Steinhart


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5 responses to “Coming Home”

  1. Tingting Avatar
    Tingting

    I enjoy how you compare yourself as the puzzle pieces. That’s how I feel. I have not been home for four years. I miss Chinese food and my dad so much. Sometimes I worry just by picturing me being home. What if I don’t fit in anymore? What If there is awkwardness?

    1. Ashleigh Bugg Avatar

      Tingting,
      I know that fear of awkwardness. However, when I come home it’s helped me look at my family and friends in a new way. I appreciate the time I have with them, even the boring moments I took for granted before. It can be scary going home, but I think it’s also important to do. It shows you where you’ve come from and reminds you where you want to go.

  2. Sharon Bugg Avatar
    Sharon Bugg

    It’s scary to be the Mother of a traveler, but it is also so satisfying to see how well you navigate through the world and to see you achieve your goals. I am so proud of the person you have become!!!

    1. Ashleigh Bugg Avatar

      I guess I had some good people raising me <3

  3. […] got a “real job” in one of my favorite cities, Austin. I moved into an apartment by myself. I got a 401K. I took the […]

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