Tell Me the Way to Kashikiku

"Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la..."

Everyone knows the refrain from Tell Me the Way to Amarillo. A song about being on the way. About longing for a place where something, or someone, is waiting.

Recently it came back to me, but slightly differently.

Tell me the way to Kashikiku.

The funny thing is that this road does not exist. You will not find it on Google Maps. There is no blue sign along the motorway and no navigation system knows the address.

Still, I have been walking towards it for quite some time.

Kashikiku once began as a name. Then it became an idea. After that, a collection of software projects. By now it has become my digital office: the place where photography, writing, software, administration and creativity come together.

And while I was building it, I noticed something.

Maybe Kashikiku is not a destination at all.

Maybe it is the journey itself.

Of course I sometimes dream of an atelier by the water. A place where the coffee is ready, the camera lies on the table and the laptop is open for a new idea. For me, Horsewei 10 has become symbolic. Not because it has to be that exact address, but because it stands for quiet, space and the freedom to make what is already in my head.

But even if I never end up there, nothing really changes.

Because Kashikiku is not built in a day. You build it in small steps.

Taking a photograph.

Writing a story.

Improving a piece of software.

Solving a problem.

Having a conversation that makes you think.

Every day, one small stone is added.

We often tend to think that happiness is waiting at the end of the road. That it begins when the house is finished, the business is running or the dream comes true.

I am beginning to believe it works differently.

The road is the story.

Maybe that is why Kashikiku is not the place where I will arrive one day.

Maybe Kashikiku is the name I have given to the person I am becoming on the way.

And if someone ever asks me where Kashikiku is, I smile.

"Tell me the way to Kashikiku..."

I cannot explain the way.

But I can show it to you.