Creativity on Vacation:

Truth and Photographs

Prince Edward Island. It is the place I remembered it to be, where the scenery plays tricks on how time passes, slowing life down. I made new connections that I will treasure with fellow L.M. Montgomery aficionados. I had a Maud-inspired bonfire to burn things I wanted to shed. I had a private moment on the beach touching the water to my face. And I got to watch light dance on shining waters nearly everywhere we went.

It was all very Instagrammable.

But this newsletter is a place where I’ve committed to telling the story behind the snapshots. The behind-the-scenes version that doesn’t fit in an Instagram description.

Here are the parts responsible for the dark undereye circles you can’t see in the far-away shots: the bad virus that I brought with me for the first two days of the trip; hours of travel delays; a three-hour time change and a two-year-old screaming us awake in the middle of the night, scared of a new and different place; a completely exhausted husband, fresh off one of his busiest months of work ever; the nerves in my stomach leading up to the book event the final night; the gut-wrenching fear each time I stuck out my hand and shared about the book, especially with Maud’s family and dedicated scholars of her work. My stress fooled my Fitbit into thinking I had been getting hours of cardio every day.

I'm not trying to focus on the proverbial flat tire on the way home and ignore the good parts, but these things happened too.

It's an interesting thing about travel. We endure the stress of planning and airport lines and fear of missing the plane, all for those few good hours, minutes maybe, when everyone is content, and well, and looking out or up—instead of down at our phones or to-do lists. And then we get to look at pictures and blot out the sore throat, the midnight cries, the fear.

We freeze the best moments, and the trip starts to become the parts we most wanted to remember. It’s a sort of creative act.   

But it’s not just memories formed from photographs that I am left with years after a trip. It’s also a feeling. A sense of place and people that leads me to recommend visiting with enthusiasm or without it.

Both times I have visited, PEI has left me with one of the strongest and warmest residual feelings I have had. Already now, that feeling is coloring over even the stressful memories with a layer of peace. For the sake of that feeling, I’ll be returning as often as I can.

Poll results: For those curious, the results of the poll were clear: more essays, and more about creativity and creative decision-making. I am grateful for the feedback! And, as my friend Brit Stueven graciously reminded me, I will always come back to what I am drawn to write.