That Damn Journey

A year ago today I was enjoying the first stop on a road trip that paralleled my self-discovery journey. I was looking forward to ten days of me being me and not that guy so many people in my world expect me to be. By the time I returned home I was well on my way to living the next chapter of my life.

That road trip was the single best vacation of my life; honestly, I’ve had many memorable vacations, but that one tops the list. I was me every minute. There were good reactions, bad reactions and unusual reactions, but every minute was authentic and memorable. During the first two days the ‘real me’ helped fuel the beginning of a new, awesome friendship. On the third day I spent an hour with a member of one of my favorite bands in the middle of his hometown. On the fourth and fifth days being totally me almost destroyed the single most significant friendship of my life; being me has hopefully helped that connection recover since then. The next few days included quality time with my sister, wonderful catching up time with several cousins and a great dinner with two of my best high school buddies whom I hadn’t seen since college. The drive home included much literary and photographic reflection on my journey and the adventure was capped off on the last evening by a few more hours of conversation with the new awesome friend.

Geez, how the hell can I top that?! I want another vacation like that! I want every day of my life to be like those ten days!

I’m still working on my self-discovery but I have made much progress, at least in my head. I’m still trapped in a few parts of my life but I know what I want and don’t want and I am more confident than ever that I will be successful in getting to the next stop on the journey. My best analogy: I’m on the right train on the right track but the train is behind schedule because of some freight traffic ahead. It will all get sorted out in due time. Another lesson I’m learning on this journey … patience.