Journey

Next Monday I will be celebrating another milestone in my life journey, my seventieth birthday, with my sister. This entails a journey to the Isle of Wight, via Hastings, where we are meeting up with two friends I have known since I was eleven years old, one of whom turned seventy in March and the other will have her seventieth birthday at the end of August.

The journey might not seem long to some of you seasoned travellers, but it takes around five hours in the car to our first port of call, where we will stay the night and half a day, and then carry on to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to the Isle of Wight.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this island, where Queen Victoria had her favourite home, Osborne House, it’s in the English Channel, just off the south coast of England, and stretches roughly 23 miles from east to west and reaches a maximum width of about 13 miles from north to south at its broadest point, so the total land area is approximately 147–148 square miles. We will be driving from top to bottom of the isle to Sandown, where my sister lives. We haven’t seen each other for two years, so it will be an emotional reunion with lots of giggling and laughing – and I can’t wait to see her.

a ferry departs
wuthering sea breeze and waves  
from all directions

Kim M. Russell, 3rd August 2026

Me with Carol on a day trip to the seaside when we were children

It’s the first Monday of August and Haibun Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub, and we are journeying with Frank.

Frank reminds us that the dog days of summer are settling in, and some of us are off on holidays, travelling. However, he acknowledges that journeying is not restricted to physical travel, and that poets have a thing or two to say about journeying. Frank has shared haiku examples, as well as a delightful haibun translation.

Today, we are engaging in some journeying of our own in our haibun.

41 thoughts on “Journey”

  6. Happy Birthday in advance, Kim. I’m sure you will have a delightful time seeing your sister and old friends. It sounds like so much fun! 💙

    (My husband turned 70 in February, and I turn 70 in December. Our kids had a party last month –halfway–for the two of us.)

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    1. Thank you so much, Merril! I’m really looking forward to it. That was lovely of your kids to have a party for both of you. David’s 70th was in May and he went on the fastest zip wire in Europe, which is in North Wales, on his birthday and then he did the St Cuthbert’s Way walk. When he asked me what I wanted to do for mine, I think he was expecting something as adventurous, but all I wanted was to see my sister, my friends, and Ellen and the boys.

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  7. Warm, personal words…back to the roots…even mentioning Hastings casts a glance at history extending much further back to another beginning,

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  13. 70 is one of those Milestone birthdays ~~ it’s YOUR day, enjoy precious time with your sister and friends! I have been to the Isle one time, in the late 70s, it was a wonderful experience.

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  18.  so it will be an emotional reunion with lots of giggling and laughing – and I can’t wait to see her.

    Happy birthday Kim! Isn’t it wonderful to be with childhood friends and your sister. Keeping the relationship intact is a great blessing! Have a great time, Ma’am!

    Hank

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  19. Trips in one country are not the same in others, roads, congestion etc. I felt your excitement very much and wishing you a wonderful reunion and time with your sister and friends. And – Happy Birthday to you Kim! 🎂

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