purple mountains majesty

After I said no for the fourth time and then no also to them I went for a bike ride to clear my head

Took a chance on a rain storm and enjoyed the payoff of wind at my back for the whole ride home

At one point as I pedaled hard and fast alongside a wet wooden fence a robin swooped in on the other side and I swear to god for a few moments there they were racing me, and I cried out in delight and in contradiction of the song I'd been belting along with David Berman all my happiness is gone but not quite and not really



before that when I walked Hanna down by the river a snake slithered in front of me, that's been happening a lot lately, this time out of curiosity and due to the sheer preponderance of snake sightings I pulled out my phone and googled their significance. It seemed spot on but also I can convince myself of pretty much any meaning or lack thereof

Am I picking up what the Universe is putting down, or am I being oblivious or ungrateful? Is it all in my head?

What has always comforted me is the idea that it doesn't really matter; if I believe and act like it is, then for all intents and purposes it is


Tomorrow I will go camp in the national forest somewhere, we'll just drive down a long forested dirt road until we see somewhere that we'd like to pitch a tent, and then we'll pitch it, and we'll cook some veggies and protein on the portable two-burner, and after sleeping under the stars we'll climb up and over a mountain pass to a lake and when we get back from that maybe we'll go climbing

I work so hard to preserve my freedom. The next step is to live once again as if I am free