"My first feeling", Hunter S. Thompson wrote, describing Puerto Rico, "was a wild desire to drive a stake in the sand and claim the place for myself." This is how I felt when I first arrived in Colorado.
I've felt this way about many places in my limited travels. I've felt like life could not get any better and that if I could just keep things the way they were that I would. I would just bottle it all up and stay in my Utopia forever. Myrtle Beach was my Utopia for awhile as was New York City even when it wasn't. I'd have to say that High School sure felt perfect as well as my advanced training in the Army. All of these are times in my life that I reflect on with great emotion and use as a guide stick to always strive for. I'm always trying to remain in this constant state of bliss that is only felt completely once it has past. The thing is, it always passes, seasons change, people move on and the Utopia is sealed and stored away along with the big moments like your first kiss and first successful potty trip.
I have a picture propped up on my kitchen table that I have always been fond of. The picture, entitled Route 66, Arizona was taken by Andreas Feininger in 1953 has left me staring blindly into it's mysteries time and time again without revealing to me its secrets. The picture shows a small town gas station along the highway off to the left side and the legendary route 66 centered on the bottom. The majority of the remainder of the photo is taken up by a sky that is filled with scattered clouds that seems to extend an eternity.
I yearn to be in this photo. I think I have been in this photo before, maybe even recently, and whenever I get away from it I am desperately looking for how to get back. Everything that I have ever wanted out of life is contained in that picture and I'm not sure whether this is tragic or heroic.
On one hand the picture shows how open the world is and how glorious and exciting the future could if you took this highway. The people standing on the side of the road just watch as you speed along through life and the country to lands of epic proportions and endless possibilities.
But on the other hand it symbolizes new starts and leaving something else behind. If everything that I have ever wanted out of life is contained in this picture, loneliness and instability is inevitably parallel with the excitement and possibilities. I often wonder whether this bird will ever change. I wonder when I'll dig a trench and fill it with cement before sticking that stake into the ground... if ever.
I've felt this way about many places in my limited travels. I've felt like life could not get any better and that if I could just keep things the way they were that I would. I would just bottle it all up and stay in my Utopia forever. Myrtle Beach was my Utopia for awhile as was New York City even when it wasn't. I'd have to say that High School sure felt perfect as well as my advanced training in the Army. All of these are times in my life that I reflect on with great emotion and use as a guide stick to always strive for. I'm always trying to remain in this constant state of bliss that is only felt completely once it has past. The thing is, it always passes, seasons change, people move on and the Utopia is sealed and stored away along with the big moments like your first kiss and first successful potty trip.
I have a picture propped up on my kitchen table that I have always been fond of. The picture, entitled Route 66, Arizona was taken by Andreas Feininger in 1953 has left me staring blindly into it's mysteries time and time again without revealing to me its secrets. The picture shows a small town gas station along the highway off to the left side and the legendary route 66 centered on the bottom. The majority of the remainder of the photo is taken up by a sky that is filled with scattered clouds that seems to extend an eternity.
I yearn to be in this photo. I think I have been in this photo before, maybe even recently, and whenever I get away from it I am desperately looking for how to get back. Everything that I have ever wanted out of life is contained in that picture and I'm not sure whether this is tragic or heroic.
On one hand the picture shows how open the world is and how glorious and exciting the future could if you took this highway. The people standing on the side of the road just watch as you speed along through life and the country to lands of epic proportions and endless possibilities.
But on the other hand it symbolizes new starts and leaving something else behind. If everything that I have ever wanted out of life is contained in this picture, loneliness and instability is inevitably parallel with the excitement and possibilities. I often wonder whether this bird will ever change. I wonder when I'll dig a trench and fill it with cement before sticking that stake into the ground... if ever.
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