"Imagination Is Everything"

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."-Albert Einstein
I made a friend on the train one day, leaving Sydney heading towards the Blue Mountains. I was carrying my fully-loaded backpack adorned with patches from Japan, Thailand and Canada, in addition to my guitar, a few books and snacks. After a long afternoon of catching several trains and lugging around all my goods, I was nearly exhausted. I found a seat and plopped myself down with my backpack.

The train momentarily paused and some little school boys, around 9 or 10 years old got on board. They were wearing school uniforms; light blue dress shirts with matching dark blue vests and shorts. One intriguing and especially sweet little boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles ran ahead of his classmates and chose the seat across from mine. He plopped himself down with his backpack. 

He kept glancing my way, his eyes nervously fleeting from mine. After a few moments, my gaze caught his. Finally he spoke out in his adorable Aussie accent. 
"Youre quite the tourist, now arent you?" 
"Yes, something like that.", I replied smiling and laughing. His class mate, "secretly" and shyly watching from around the corner near the door of the train, protectively called out, "What are you doing!?". Im sure they were aware they shouldnt talk to strangers. He defiantly answered, "IM TALKING." His classmate eventually buggered off. 

He asked a few more questions about where we were going and where we were from, afterwards apologizing for initially assuming my Canadian accent was American. Then he noticed the patches on my bag, he paused, studying them in a curious wonder. Then, out of nowhere, the way children do, he went on to amaze me with his beautiful innocence, saying one day he would travel like me. 

"Thats why I love the wind so much.." he said,"..because it can take you anywhere you please, ..with a little imagination of course."

The train stopped and our conversation was forced to a halt, nevertheless the little man wished me a great trip and waved me off at my station- What a gentlemen!

Although I only spent a few brief moments with him, he has crossed my mind many times since then. Ive played his words over in my mind, thinking about the relationship between the children we were and the people we are today. As a child, we use wind and our imagination to take us places. As adults, travelling takes a little more than the wind but it still requires that child-like imagination to create a new way of life. 

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