Game Board Map

When I was a young girl I used to take the “Candy Land” board from its game box, open it up, and stare at it. I looked over the green hills at the beginning and saw that there was adventure waiting beyond them. Great adventure. Filled with nutty grandmas and licorice men and lollypop princesses.

For me “Candy Land” was not a board game. It was a map.

 

After I had looked it over enough I was convinced that if I took it with me it would be my guide. I knew of some green hills not too far from home. I figured that was a good place to start. So I packed my backpack with some sandwiches and told my mom where I was going. She told me to be back in time for dinner.

 

And I never did find it. Yet all those curious feelings never left.

 

Instead, I started to grow up. And instead of seeing a map in board games, I saw a sea of faces. People.

 

 Humans became my map.

 

I found roads and mountains and oceans in them.
 

Got stuck in some sand. Found some unmarked trails.

 

And together we memorized the stars and used them to sail the dark seas. We found blackberries and happiness. We discovered fields of pain.

 

I had plans to go over the world, making my map; evolving my plan.

And in this pursuit I found something more.
 

I found inside each person, every single one of them, laid a map. So intricate and intriguing. The most adventurous maps I’d ever seen.

 

Especially in him, my best friend.

 

And now everyday I wake up to the best map I’ve ever seen- probably because I created her. She embodies all those sugary feelings- that epic sense of a journey. All I can make of it now are the green hills. And I know that over those lies the adventure I was always searching for.