and so we left.

Robert Louis Stevenson once said

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

This past weekend I feel like i did just that. Wrestled with the great affair of moving down the open road. A phone call on Thursday afternoon from an old friend prompted the question of "not can you pick up and leave on a whim, but will you." Well, anyone who knows me (including my friend Scott) knows that I fell from a high branch in the spontaneous tree at a very young age. He knew I couldnt resist. So off we went, at 4pm on Friday.

The plan (as if we were planning this) would have us in South Texas at the ocean on Friday, The bayou's of Louisiana on Saturday, and North to Shreveport on Sunday. Possibly going back home on Sunday night. The chance that we may both leave all of our former lives behind and become beach bums grew every day.

After an odd experience at a Gay bar the night before, we fell in love with our hotel room view of the ocean. The sunrise, seagulls, and sand were all too much to give up. Louisiana could wait. So we laid on the hotel beds (note* beds as in plural) for two days and watched the tides go up and down and back up again. Contemplating life's mysteries and coming to the conclusion that we can't always answer the question "Why? God." We just have to go on living. Regardless of empty holes in our souls that make us feel lost. We have to lean on each other. And try to keep on keeping on. We have to shake off the losses, and win when we can. We have to find the rum in life. Mankind has a natural desire to desperately need something to live for.

We escaped and ran from everything in the most glorious sense possible.

and coming home wasn't that bad. In fact, we felt ready. Ready to tackle.

I think it could conclusively be said that, when a man stands in the surf and strains his eyes to see the end of the world beyond the edge of the water, it does something good for his heart.

It makes him....

new.

(click on photo for larger view)

Scott and Leslie in 2010

~we love and miss you Leslie. see you soon.