Someone gave me flowers over Christmas, or I bought them, can't really remember, but the cool thing is that they had curly willow in them. You know the kind, it is a branch but twists and turns and gives the arrangement an oriental look. Well, anyway, this curly willow began to sprout leaves. Now it has a full growth of roots and is abloom with green leaves. Isn't that wild? In the middle of the coldest bitterest month we have had, there is some amazing growth happening here. When all should be dead and dying, there is new life and joy sprouting on the top of my desk by the window. Outside the window, the snow covers the cold hard ground like a funeral mantle and here inside the window, it is a little bit like spring!

That is part of the joy on the secret road, the surprise around every corner. The winters blooming flower, the snowstorm on an August day. Each day on the road brings you to a new place, to new people and to new visions. For those of you who have not found the secret road, let me tell you, it is both easy and difficult to find. Every city has a secret road, that can take you from one side to the other, either quickly or slowly depending on your need, and sometimes you just stumble on it, and you have passage into a world you have never seen before. Others search for the secret road, and sadly, never find it. They scurry around, seeking the elusive entrance, faking what they perceive as the joy on that road and with near hysteria, push on to the next soulless place that they pray is on that road.

Each journey begins with a single step towards the unknown, towards adventure, joy, terror, peace or knowledge. I found the first secret road in New Delhi. If you have ever been there you know it is a foul crowded horrid city that lies like a scab on the face of the earth. Moving about the city is hazardous to your health, the air is thick and putrid, and you travel with your shawl over your nose and eyes to prevent the toxic air from entering your lungs. The city is huge, sprawling out in every direction in a mindless apparently unorganized way without the benefit of signs for direction. We traveled everyday from the outskirts to the center of the city and it would take a long time and be hard on your body and soul. When traffic was snarled, and the lepers and beggars crowded the sides of your taxi, it was more real than you can imagine.

One day as we traveled our route, my companion, my daughter, the delight of my soul, told the driver to turn down that road up ahead. I asked where we were going and my daughter, in that puzzling way of daughters, said, "It's a secret road." With that, we turned off the main road, congested with the flotsam and jetsam of Delhi's disposable people, and came onto a road that seemed more like a country lane. The high rises and houses fell away and the side of the road was lined with tall green trees. The road was not paved but in good condition and we were able to move along at a good pace. There was a dam and a small lake and cranes waded in the shallow water. Elephants and their keepers trudged home from work. A small naked child squatted on a bridge and emptied his bowels. There were butterflies and dragonflies, bougainvillea and peacocks. The air was sweet and clean and warm. Women in bright saris, brilliant pinks and blues walked down to the water balancing wicker baskets on their head, full of laundry or food to be washed. Faces smiled, hands waved and laughter floated above our heads like prayer flags. It was only minutes away from the chaos of Delhi and at the same time it was a million miles. Too soon, we turned again and found ourselves back in the city and very close to where we lived. My daughter explained that the secret road existed when you needed it, and it usually took you where you needed to go.

The secret road is not always a road; sometimes it is a path, a detour, a metaphor, a person or a place. You will find it at the most surprising time and in the most surprising places. So, that said, this journal becomes my stories from the secret road. I invite you along for the trip. We will sail up the Yangtze and down the Mississippi, meet a philosopher on a search for Atlantis, a family that takes in strangers during a deadly snowstorm, two girls who set a lake on fire and visit places that can only exist on a secret road.