Spontaneity, Solitude and Starlight

There are few things in life as calming to me as a clear sky on a summer night in the mountains of Tennessee. Tonight, as I was driving home, I had the sudden urge to see the stars, so I kept driving. I drove about 45 minutes to Chilhowee and wound my way up to my favorite overlook.

Never go back the way you came

It was a cool night in Cleveland, and the greenway was beginning to darken rapidly as the sun set on the western horizon. The electric lights left a haze in the air as a friend of mine and I stumbled upon a new section of the paths that neither of us had ever explored. 


We walked for a little while, simply taking in the amusements to be found along the new path (various exercise stations that made for great fun and hilarious photos). As we started to head back to our car, we spotted one more path we'd never taken and decided to see where it led. 


We emerged on one of the main streets in Cleveland, just a few blocks from the parking lot from which we had started. It was a much shorter walk than the meandering paths we'd left behind, so we started walking down the bustling street. 


As we started walking, we talked about what we'd learned about the greenway that night, and our conversation arrived at an interesting consensus that I've thought about a lot since that night: Never go back the way that you came.