One of those Pilgrimages
As a writer, you have "those icons." The writers you connect with most, the ones whose words leave you breathless with inspiration. Emily Dickinson falls into that category for many of us, and rightfully so. As our guide in Amherst recently said, "Emily makes you work." How beautiful to be able to write "in Amherst," for yes, I have been! I stood in the town and remarked about the fact with the same disbelief and fulfillment I had when I said, "I am in Spain." My intrepid adventuresome sister and I set off in the remnants of "Tropical Depression 17" to make this trek ~ we were not to be deterred. We passed through stunningly dilapidated New England towns ~ former mill towns with sprawling factories left abandoned to broken glass ~ but we found Amherst bustling with the several colleges active there. We'd not eaten, nor taken a restroom stop for awhile, and we really just stopped at the house to check in and see about tourin...