Mayday 2

In the past three weeks, I have had my car totaled while innocently exploring the backcountry of Louisiana, I have left behind sources of strong feelings and dreamt of adventures, I have found boredom and financial poverty at the hands of Mother Nature, and I have attempted to plan an uncertain future with as many semi-feasible options as possible. A character is a sum of his experiences, is he not? Though it hasn't been the greatest time lately, I'm still here.

Driving through Plaquemine, Louisiana (< 3 square miles), I decided to double back to check out what sounded like an interesting photographic opportunity. While sitting at a stop sign, I watched one vehicle plow into the back of another, forcing a game of steel machine pinball in front of me. One ricochet off a utility pole later, my car and I were no longer bystanders, but victims, and I knew that the vehicle that had treated me so well through my many adventures over the previous decade would no longer be with me. I could do nothing but laugh when the tow truck driver (and later the insurance company) asked me to grab anything I wanted out of the vehicle. It was sadly humorous because I was traveling between cities for the show and thus had everything I owned in the car. However, my hiking boots, a backpack containing some Clif bars, a couple electronic items including my camera, and a short ride in the back of a cop (pronounced PO-leece) car to the nearby McDonald's (For food? Good lord, no! Just a wifi spot and place to steal some alternating current), and I had set up the incident command center on the road to recovery. Within hours of an online post updating the world on what had happened, my widespread family of coworkers past and present, as well as those of blood, had called to check up on me, to offer transportation for both my belongings and my body, and to arrange lodging. My delayed arrival in Cincinnati was of no concern to my employers, so long as I was okay.

The curious ask, “What are these sources of strong feelings?” Let's just say that in Houston I left something behind I'm glad to be rid of, but I also left something behind that I hope to reach again.