Date a Girl Who Travels

written as a birthday gift for Puti & Dinda.

Date a girl who travels. Date a girl who spends her money on a summer road trip instead of fancy dresses.  She lives her life adventurously, without fear; and both of you will live your love life as if you’re on a lazy vacation. No drama.

Date a girl who travels. She is not the one who spends hours putting on her make up, but she has touched a deeper layer of her femininity that penetrates through every orifice of her life which makes her beautiful even when she’s not paying attention.

Find a girl who travels. You will know her by the stuffs she always carries. You may find coins instead of mascara in her pouch. She will always have a city map, a journal and a set of stationery in her bag. Whenever she goes, she’s ready to get lost. You start to recognize that her skin is getting darker?  Yes, she’s not afraid of sun exposure. She paddles down the river with her canoe during the whole day, absorbed in the moment, flowing passionately.

You can try to let her down.  But she has learned to toughen up on her way back home from jungle, there is nothing you can say to let her down as she has gotten thrown into the craziness of this world.  She is all tough on the outside, but inside she’s gentle and calm.

You can try to approach her.  But she won’t take an easy road. She will scan you, but she doesn’t play hard to get, she just chooses to take a longer path that seems like a magical travel through a sunlit tunnel in Hawaii. It would be a thrilling adventure, and at the end of the path lies all of the treasure you have been searching for. You just have to be patient.

Date a girl who travels. She sees the hidden beauty in everything. You will realize that although she has impulsively survived winter storm in Northern Ontario just to see the Aurora Borealis, strolled around Hanoi going down all the way to Saigon, enjoyed the medieval atmosphere of Antwerp, and there was nothing like a marshmallow ice cream for her to combat the beating Istanbul’s sun; at the end of the day she will try to find her way home.  Let her know that you’re her home.  If you’re lucky, she will be comfortable around you, being around you feels like she is home in a way that she has never felt when she’s on the road.

When she is busy and has a tight schedule during weekdays, ask her to go camping in the backyard during weekend.  Then try stargazing with her under the moonlit beside a small bonfire, she will show you that Cassiopeia is not hard to spot among the stars and constellations.  She loves to explore the night sky as much as she loves to explore new places.  Secure and lead her, she needs your guidance. Act as if you’re the North Star who always leads her home. Ask her if she can show you Cepheus.  She might just give you a little grin since she is not sure enough. Ask her if she wants to name her future child Andromeda.

It’s easy to date a girl who travels.  You just have to be you, as she will take you as who you are. She appreciates honesty as nature taught her so, she is original, and she talks to you without any persona or agenda.  She has the guts to tell you everything with fearlessness, no arguing, no fighting; just a simple free flow of speech without worry of what will be said—just communion, just intimacy. She will appreciate your wit and sense of humor even if you have always felt that nobody really understand your humor, but she is the one who will laugh with you.  For her, life is not about holding on. It’s about living, loving, laughing, and leaving.

If you find a girl who travels, keep her. If she says she loves you, no matter how far you are apart she will always come back to you, her home.  She’s the one who writes a love letter for you a day before your departure to go somewhere across the sea with Frank Sinatra’s “I Wish You Love” song lyrics in it, or better, she will invite you to join her trip. Go with her. Then later on your trip, you will find out that her adventurous spirit is worth fighting for.

Find a girl who travels. It is very predictable that one day you will decide to spend the rest of your life with her. Marry her, you will realize your heart stops to wander.

.

Inspired by Rosemarie Urquico’s Date a Girl Who Reads