This front-page story of my local paper makes me feel crazy and like I am living in a parallel world to everyone else. When I.CE. comes to town there may not be signs. You will buy your pita bread and dairy-free yogurt and exchange pleasantries with the cashier who smells vaguely of cigarette smoke. You …
To Chester
Baby's first picture! Last week I got a new car. At 23, in post-college autumn, I bought my first car just days after my birthday. I was moving to the Poconos for a job and a car was a necessity. I got a loan from my grandparents and bought a 2012 Ford Escape with 42,000 …
Now
Time is a sloshing, sticky thing. I first started this blog as a way to document my travels when I lived out of my car. That was nearly two years ago, and here we still are. I've kept writing because I've always written and I don't know another way to live. But I also write …
First Steps
I camped by myself for the first time when I was 23. It was in Phoenicia, NY, nestled in the Catskill Mountains, the closest one can get to New York City and still feel connected to threads of wildness. My plan was this: leave work early, drive three hours, camp, summit three mountains, and then …
But Wasn’t That Love?
“He said, ‘I love you.’ She shook her head. ‘You can see me, that’s all.’ But wasn’t that love? Seeing what no one else could?” –Bone Gap, Laura Ruby “I’m so scared of dying without ever being really seen. Can you …
Goodbye, See You Tomorrow
“Here sitting on the world, she thought, for she could not shake herself free from the sense that everything this morning was happening for the first time, perhaps for the last time, as a traveler, even though he is half asleep, knows, looking out of the train window, that he must look now, for he …
A Year
One year ago, I was sitting at a desk. It was a nice desk. The chair was padded and it swiveled; I had an entire drawer dedicated to colored paper, glue sticks, and craft foam; a painted alligator made of egg cartons and cardboard boxes watched me work. It was a lovely desk. Fifty-two weeks …
To Disappear
Last summer I thru-hiked the Northville Placid Trail with my father. It was 133 miles of mud and mosquitoes, storm-ravaged bridges and swollen lakes. The trail only crossed four major roads (except for a several mile road walk at the end), and my dad and I could walk an entire day without seeing another soul. …
/arrival/
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. --C.S. Lewis There are things that bring you comfort. The familiar weight of your backpack hanging from your shoulders. The peppermint scent of Dr. Bronner's soap. Curled pages of poetry that have kept you company around the globe. These are the things that you …
Leaving/Left/Gone
Bilbo: I'll be alright. Just let me sit quietly for a moment. Gandalf: You've been sitting quietly for far too long! Tell me, when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you? I remember a young hobbit who was always running off in search of Elves in the woods. He'd stay out …
People in Parks 