Last update: December 19, 2016
There is something in us that accompanies us throughout our existence, walking alongside us in the new places we visit and in those we wanted to return to. It is a baggage that makes us special because it has the shape of dreams, hopes and above all things to which we are linked and that we decide to take with us when we leave.
That suitcase contains the emotions that make us vibrate from the depths of ourselves, as well as the people who trigger them. It is not an easy baggage to observe but it is there, it comes and goes at the rhythm of our every step, saying a lot of who we are.
"The affection of people makes my heart vibrate every time as if it were the first"
-Ella Fitzgerald-
The things we are attached to make us emotionally and spiritually unique, they represent our personal relationships and at the same time the degree of affective attachment we maintain in them. For this reason, we like to share our experiences with loved ones from whom we separate when we leave: because we carry them with us, close to the heart, in the form of love and nostalgia.
Affection and NOT goodbyes
We arrive at the station, head to the airport or set foot in the car, ready to face a new adventure. It doesn't matter if it lasts for months, years or even hours, our baggage will always be the same.
When we pack the suitcase, we fill it with items that we believe will be useful: clothes, electronic devices, documents and, if the journey is long, even memories - such as photos or postcards. After that, here comes goodbye time.
They call them "goodbyes" for no reason, as if we are leaving behind the people who remain and who do not come with us physically. But we don't really let go, we don't abandon, we don't detach ourselves from those people.
“Let's say goodbyes
half a world tour.
So, even if we are late,
we will want to do it again "[...]
-Elvira Tailor-
We all know why passenger farewells hurt so much. Because in that airport, in that train station, we are turning our backs on someone in the hope that they will come back to hug us as soon as possible. Those goodbyes are hard to face because after all they have never been such: they are only special brackets of an affection that will continue over time. Their memory will shelter us from the cold wherever we are, protecting us from emptiness and loneliness.
Affection is hidden in the farewells
Leaving and leaving home is a very courageous act as it means throwing ourselves into an adventure for which we have no experience. And as if that weren't enough, we won't have the people who usually help us when we have a problem by our side.
When the journey becomes long, the baggage that we had filled with what we are linked to and that has accompanied us since the beginning of the adventure, slowly begins to reveal its content. In other words, we realize that perhaps some of those goodbyes weren't entirely transient or that we put people in them we didn't even know about.
Here we are going to remove and add items from our luggage, until we realize that, after all, there was no room for everything, that it was not material objects that made it so heavy and that the more weight it bears, the more solid it becomes.
Emotional baggage is the heaviest
After reflecting on these aspects for a long time, we will understand that moving to a new place does not mean leaving home: it does not reside in any physical place, it is within us. When we come back, we will look at those to whom we said “see you soon” and we will understand that they are their home, the essence.
We reunite once again with the people we care about and who have always been with us, adding however all those we bring from the journey from which we have just returned. After all, there will always be a glass of wine waiting for us from that friend we met in Spain, a hug to return to that university friend, a conversation to resume with the stranger we met in Geneva, whose memory accompanies us in the days of rain…
"The quality of the trip is measured by the amount of memories we collect in it"
-Benito Taibo-
All this will form the baggage through which we will show ourselves to others: we will not talk about the clothes we brought, but about the people whose memories we carry with us. It is only a demonstration of the fact that love and affection are small fragments embedded in our heart, as well as in that of others. Invisible, they unite us and give meaning to our lives.
Images courtesy of Claudia Temblay
