Vicarious (adj)

Definition: experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another.

Seems to be this entire vacation has been lived in a vicarious manner. Everything I thought, and went through was something I heard about from my friends and family. All their trips, their escapades, their sojourns were things that kept me going through this non existent winter.

So lets recap. In the last two weeks of December and these first few days in January, I have visited a lot of cities. Some in this country, some back home. I have heard stories of fun filled times, of meeting old friends, and making new ones. I have seen pictures of wondrous Christmas and new years celebrations, and heard tales of drunken revelries to bring in those joyous holidays. I have been part of a new beginning for some, and a rekindling for others. I have also seen things shatter, and disappear.

I have seen two oceans, and a sea. I have seen one river. I have sat by the river, and walked by the sea.

I have experienced all kinds of flights, from short 1 hr ones, to 8 hrs and even 14 hrs non stop. I have flown over continental US, over the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the North Pole. I have dined with people I never knew. I have gone for movies with them. I have gone on pilgrimages with them.

I have travelled down the lanes of nostalgia, as well as the sands of time.

And everywhere I went, I went unmarked, leaving not a footstep, nor a sound. I was the silent observer. The watcher. The one who would listen as the tales unfolded, and imagine as if I were there as it happened.

How did I do this? Well, thanks to my friends. I journeyed through their conversations on chat, or the phone, and even through their blogs. Its true, while I have been in Pittsburgh during the day, I have travelled the world at nights, not in my dreams, but through conversations, and pictures.