X: Xanadu (WR)

Xanadu

I can’t remember the word game that Christina, my wife, and I were playing when we started having a discussion of words that are known that are not in the dictionary. The word that Christina highlighted in this discussion was the word, “Xanadu”. She was convinced it was a real word. I was not sure. So we looked it up in our dictionary and lo and behold it was not listed there. But I had remembered a movie with Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John called, “Xanadu” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081777/ so maybe it was only the name of a movie. That would explain it not being in the dictionary. Christina was adamant, “No, it was a real word”. This required looking at other sources. Luckily this was the time when the Internet was in existence. In searching “Xanadu” out, the movie was found in the search results, but also an online dictionary definition: noun. 1. a place of great beauty, luxury, and contentment. 2.  an idyllic, exotic, or luxurious place

We both agreed that the definition fit what we thought it meant. It even fit the movie’s title, though I don’t remember much about it.

Now the task in my Life’s Choices mind was to determine in all the places that I’ve been, where is my Xanadu?

This is a hard decision to make. I can certainly find places of great beauty such as in Nottingham forest when I was in England, or in the Botanical Gardens that I’ve seen, but they’re not luxurious and though I found some contentment there, the locations near traffic and other unnatural noises, wasn’t very lasting.

I’ve certainly found luxury, as in the wedding in New York City we attended for my cousin’s son, where we got to stay in a hotel room overlooking Columbus Circle, where the wedding was at a fancy synagogue and reception at the New York Public Library. It had bits of beauty but the crowds and schedule we had to keep left more awe than contentment.

As for contentment, there are mountains of Shenandoah, being with Christina and David on walks, being by myself at times, just relaxing at home with Christina after our hectic schedule pauses for a bit. In most of those places, there is neither luxury nor great beauty. Though Shenandoah would fit that bill.

So where does one find one’s Xanadu? Is the goal in life to seek it out and find it as an end place? Or is it something we strive for, as we go through life, never to find completely, but keeping us focused on reaching for the idyllic in order to improve ourselves?

To me, my Xanadu doesn’t have to be luxurious. I seek my contentment with places of beauty, with people I love and want to share it with. It is a place I can go to leave behind the stresses and responsibilities of life and be comforted. It’s not a place I have to be in all of the time. But a place I know exists that I can rely on being there when needed.

My Xanadu doesn’t need to have all of the characteristics of its definition. Each piece of its definition manifests itself when appropriate. Therefore, I have many Xanadus. They are for me what I need them to be and are hopefully within walking distance at those times when I need them.

To me, Xanadu is not only a word now found in newer dictionaries but a real place that if I try hard I can see and be at. So where’s your Xanadu?