I remember, it was back in 1999. That's when this all started. I was almost 30, and I had a good life. I had my own apartment. I had a good job, a decent truck. I had my books, and my art collection, and music and my vcr collection and my eq. I was on top of things. And yet it was like I was missing something.
It was then I met a girl. She reminded me of my first love, Stormy Joy. The job ended, and she was on her way back east, we decided to go to Colorado together. We journeyed to Grand County, and went our separate ways. I had my bag, and my tools, and I just started finding odd jobs and wandering.
A few months later, I found myself in Memphis for the dawn of the millennia. I was on Beale Street. As the festivities continued, I ducked behind a police line, and then came out to see the first dawn. And there I saw, the MLK memorial, and so I sat there, and cleaned the debris around it, as I watched the first light of a new era. It was then that I decided what I must do.
The ministry of Martin Luther King was a gift to all mankind. Wherever there was suffering, wherever there was oppression. Wherever a blind eye was turned. All these people, all these children for all of these, there was a dream.
Deep in my heart, there was a lingering pain. A memory of the road I had to travel. Many times I had tried to find help for the deep scars of my childhood sexual abuse. There had never been anyone to turn to. As a male survivor, I was an outcast. An abomination, that had to be hidden from the light of day. I didn't want anyone else to feel that way. So that was my dream. To find a way to heal the children.
Of course, I didn't know where to begin. I was just a drifter and a story teller, a finder of lost tales of lore. I loved to read, and to write, and to play music. How could I do such a thing? I guess, I had one other gift. I was completely free. What does that mean? Did you ever listen to Janis Joplin? Freedom is just another word, for nothing left to lose. I was a drifter, I wanted to lose everything. And so I had no fear.
And so I began, with what tools I had. A teller of tales, a finder of lost lore, a carefree soul without fear who could walk where no one else would dare. Step by step, and mile by mile, I continued my journey, until others found the courage to follow. I knew it was only a matter of time.
It is many years later, and the #me too movement has taken root. It is now strong enough to stand on its own. I have accomplished everything I set out to do. Now its time for me to go back to my mountain shrine. I have found a job driving an 18 wheeler. I'm going to just wander about aimlessly as long as I can. It's everything I want. To be as free as the wind.
For now, I'm ironing out the details. I should be on my way this Friday. So good journeys to you all. Expect me when next we meet.
