This one's for Penny, who loves doors as much as I do

Dear Reader, for the sake of simplicity, all photos in this article are my own.

Salta is a gorgeous part of the enormous country of Argentina. I had arrived there in 2014, still a new adventurer. I was entranced by the gorgeous doorways and portals that I saw all over town. Somehow they made an implicit promise: beyond this lies something.....

I took photos of them. Lots of photos.

So when I arrived in Colombia to explore for three weeks, I was even more delighted to encounter not just doors, but the kind of brilliantly-colored portals which charmed both the eye and the imagination.

Saga supporter Penny Nelson expressed a similar love of doors, so this article is dedicated to her. I promised I would share my collection, to which I hope to add many, many more.

From Salamina to Risaralda to Manizales and beyond, I was utterly delighted by the promises implied by the artists who lovingly painted these houses and doors.

In some ways it feels like the Lady or the Lion. If I choose this one, then I may not be able to come back and try out that one.

That's such a statement about life, isn't it? I choose this door to this life, with all the twists and turns. Sometimes it doesn't turn out very well, but then, more doors, with more implicit promises are always showing up.

Should I go in? What happens if I don't like what I find? Can I go back?

In most cases, no. Once through that door the journey commences. Perhaps we fall into a brand new dimension by falling in love. Perhaps we make a decision which changes the course of our lives forever.

The door slams behind us and all we can do is move forward. New doors show up.


The choices seem endless. But they aren't, for as life begins to come to an end for us, and a final door eventually shows up, we realize that there are no more for us to open but for the one which takes us to....we have no idea.

Which leads me to wonder whether or not it makes sense to open as many as possible, right here, right now.  

While we will indeed regret some of those choices, perhaps the great challenge is to trust that even the doors we choose which take us to difficult or unpleasant experiences are precisely the ones we needed in order for us to grow.

The next door, the next choice becomes less terrifying.

There are no guarantees. There are only choices, and the consequences of those choices.

Someone is always creating more doors, more temptations. That would be us mostly, although we may not realize it at the time.

Our courage to open doors and trust makes sure that other, better doors appear. Those who stay where they are, afraid to touch the handle and walk through? That's also a life.

I can't speak for anyone else. I am entranced by entrances and exits. I want to see what's on the other side.

(pardon the finger)

As I am about to step over the threshold of a new decade, a multitude of doors has opened. The ones in this article demand that I make massive changes. Learn a new language. Forfeit much, and to my mind, gain much more.

I'm already reaching for those handles. I have no clue what will be on the other side. But one thing I do know; by doing this, a million other doors also appear.

Choosing one closes another, perhaps thousands. But I will choose.

Portals to different lives, different worlds.

Promises offered. Some kept.

Dedicated with love to the door-openers, the experimenters, those willing to stride through, ride through, do what it takes to have a full life. May the doors you open give you the life you deserve, a life worth living.

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