Over the past decade I've lived in 14-ish apartments, 7 cities and 3 countries. It's a lot of movement. There's all kinds of pros / cons with so much change.

But I think my favorite part has been the repeated opportunity to wander. I love to be aimless, love the feeling of discovery.

After our latest move to another city, I'd been trying to find fun things to do with my 1 and 2 year old kids: parks, playgrounds, libraries.

I find it harder to be freeform with such little kids - having a plan puts me (and I think them?) more at ease. So naturally, I turned to the Internet and found some great things. Walkable spots. Close-by drives.

After a month of being here, though, I finally took some time for myself to just go on a random walk. No particular purpose. I ended up passing through the little city center, kept going into the town gardens that then turned to walking paths among rows of beautiful trees.

I took a left on a whim. It was foggy and through some pines, I saw a low fence, then a slide and swings and realized there was this magical little forest playground just sitting there. I was delighted. Couldn't wait to walk the 15 minutes back home, tell my kids and bring them over!

Later, I wondered how I'd missed this delightful spot, and it was simple. Just wasn't on Google Maps for whatever reason.

And that's the beauty of wandering. I could've easily settled into my planned routine, the places I'd already visited, and that would have sufficed.

I also could have done a more in-depth online search or looked at Google Maps satellite view, written a program to detect unknown playgrounds etc etc.

But the sheer serendipity of opening up to life can be so surprising and fulfilling. It brings me immense joy and peace to stumble upon some little marvel.

Sometimes, finding a clearing is as literal as happening upon a space set aside in a dense forest. Or finding the vast horizon at the top of a tree. Sometimes it's taking a few deep breaths, emptying your mind for a millisecond of calm.