46. Routes as Songlines, sort of

I drove up to Maine by myself. My husband's work schedule didn't afford a duo road trip. But, in a way, I was happy to drive from New York to Maine solo. I'd see my brothers and, in a few days, my sister and possibly more family and friends while in Brunswick, ME, so it wasn't a sorrowful trip. In a way, it was an homage. I know the route well. My route is current and secular, and I'm hardly an elder spirit. I hope I'm not appropriating a culture or being disrespectful by thinking, as I drove, of  Songlines. Longlines, Wikipedia, notes "Trace the journeys of ancestral spirits as they created the land, animals and lore. Integral to Aboriginal spirituality, longlines are deeply tied to the Australian landscape and provide important knowledge, cultural values and wisdom to Indigenous people." My seven hour drive north to New England, through Brunswick, Maine to Harpswell, Maine traced the routes of many a childhood and adult trip—with parents or without—to be in my father's hometown and be thankful for his existence and culture.

(For August 25, 2019; posted August 26, 2019)