Apprentice, with shoes

*Originally posted January 16, 2011

If I could have taken another road to get to where I am, without giving so much along the way, I would have gladly taken it. If I had been able to carry everything with me, surely I would have done that, too. And perhaps that way was there -- but I couldn't see it and so I took the only road I could find in the darkness, hoping it was the right one.

I never knew what would happen, where I would end up; this was no package tour. The tourists didn't go there . . . even the crazies feared where I was headed but . . . I could hear something and so I was curious and left the house and wandered after it -- a child chasing a butterfly, a god-thirsty beggar chasing a dream.

All things of value come with a price and I have accumulated lots of information, brochures from the highway, as a result of following my own unique Siren's call. I am happy with where I landed and the trip, even though there were skinned-up knees and sleepless nights, is filled with stories that I cherish, memories that your safety net couldn't hold -- no matter how long and winding it may have been.

I have seen things and I continue this wandering path towards . . .