As fortune would have it (or perhaps the Universe, trying to teach me things I'm too little to know), I got the chance to visit Krakow right before I head off to Hive Creator Days in Graz tomorrow. I hadn't seen it since Steemfest 3, and was curious what I might find, taking a peek back into the past.
I didn't remember Krakow well, if at all. What stood out were bits and pieces, little disjointed odds and ends. A walk through the cold November night with people whose names I didn't know. Walking alone along the Vistula in the early morning to get to the second day of presentations. A random elevator encounter. A torn button on my coat.
I didn't know Krakow much at all, though I do remember being scared to walk back to my hotel alone late at night. Thankfully, I didn't have to be. Alone. Or scared, though that took a lot longer to learn. People, you might've noticed, don't come naturally to me. Nowadays, I wouldn't break a sweat. I would know the city is small and that I can depend on myself, but also on others.
But then, I was only little then. Both in life and on Hive. I'd only been on Hive for a year or so. Little did I know this place and its people would come to mean so much to me. 19-year-old me wouldn't be boarding a plane for Vienna tomorrow, I can tell you that.
Speaking of hotels, I was hoping I'd run into the INX on our walks, and lo and behold, there it was. I remember leaning out of that window there late at night, feeling alone and cold, but also lucky.
How lucky, I was a long way away from discovering. I meditated a bit over these few days about the lessons we take from the Universe and the ones we refuse. The ones we can afford to refuse. How people walk into your life for a reason, and how it wasn't an accident, even then, that I was at that gathering.
Looking back, it becomes easier to see how the past blends into your present. How connections and moments and takeaways from that Krakow led to my arriving now, at this one. Of course, I wasn't paying any attention to such things then, but I'm trying to pay more now. I figure it's worth paying attention to what the world might be trying to say.
I thought also of how places change, though, and implicitly people. Maybe that's saying the same thing. But coming back after six and a half years, I'd expected the memory of Steemfest to be more pregnant for me in this city. I tend to ascribe places and things with such personality and meaning.
Yet the Krakow I discovered was tabula rasa. A blank slate for me to write new memories on. The Krakow I will now remember is the Krakow I visited now, and much less the one from then. Alas. And then I think of Hivefest last fall in Split, and figure if I were to go back now, I wouldn't be able to turn a corner without memories of it popping up.
But for how long?
Give it seven years, and it probably won't mean the same thing, at all. And that's nature, and that's how it goes. And to think how important Steemfest in Krakow seemed, and to think how proud I was for going. And to think of all the things that seem important and proud now, and wonder at where they might be in seven years.
I loved it. The vibe of the city. The Jewish quarter. The bodegas. The mound. This time, I experienced Krakow. Last time, a little fish out of water, a little out of my depth, I passed through it, I experienced life and all sorts of strange, beautiful encounters, but not Krakow. The city as I found it was foreign to me, and in a way, I'm glad.
Finally, I thought of the parallel between then and now, of what the blockchain ended up meaning for me. Which is not to say it didn't then, just that I was 19. And you don't know which things that are meaningful now will continue being so much of your life still, and which will fade. I'm glad this one didn't fade, this place, this virtual old little city I've inhabited for eight years now and hope to inhabit for many more. This place I am still discovering, with all its charm, and all its value, and all the luck I was fortunate enough to have.
