I ran across this story about a young emperor penguin found alone on the beach of New Zealand more than 2,000 miles from his Antarctica home.

It was the first time a penguin had been seen on those beaches in more than 44 years.

Reports indicate the bird was healthy and it was assumed that he simply took a wrong turn.

What made this apparently healthy penguin leave all he was familiar with to travel to some distant and unknown shore?

I'm sure scientists would tell us all about the ocean’s currents and the temperature of the water. They would theorize that the poor bird simply became disoriented and found himself lost and stranded on the New Zealand beaches.

I have to wonder, though.

Perhaps this journey was by design.

Have you ever longed to lose yourself in a different place and time? Ever longed to just get away to somewhere you have never been?

Have you ever wanted to experience something different and exotic but was afraid to try?

Have you ever wanted to run away from the job, the spouse, the kids, the bills and wash up on some sandy beach in obscurity...for a little while?

I say “Bravo,” brave little penguin. Maybe you aren't lost at all. Maybe you learned early to follow your dreams. Maybe you looked at the goal and decided that you would rather risk the journey than to spend your whole life unknowing.

Maybe you told some of your relatives and friends and they laughed at you – said you could never do it. Maybe they made fun of your ambitions and dreams.

But you somehow understood that the call to go was yours alone. Your adventure. Your dream.

And when, at last, you washed up on the beach, tired and bedraggled, you had what no one can take from you now -- the experience.

So many of us have things we long to try. Places we want to go. But we allow fear or procrastination or excuses to prevent us.

Then we see a story like this and we know...it is time.
***
D. Barbara McWhite grew up in York County, S.C., and lives in Orange Park, Fla., with her husband and cat. Her column, Speakeasy, is published each Tuesday.

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