Fire...

(written during the evening of Wednesday, May 13th)

For those of you - maybe random people - who stumble across this blog and wonder what it is, I can only say that this is a document that describes my attempt to create a new me. If you know me, then I suppose you already understand. I have left the only place I have called home during my adult life, left family and friends and career, and decided to see if I can conquer the unknown. I am not ascending Everest or dog-sledding to the North Pole. This unknown resides within me. What will become of me if I strip down to the bare essentials and start again? It is a New Clothing Enterprise that may result in a new me on the outside, but will surely result in a new me on the inside (visit the Thoreau quote in the header of this blog).

I have with me only what I can carry in my car. I always have just enough clothing and shelter to stay warm, and just enough food to last for a day or two. It is no coincidence that I decided to begin this journey from my old town to my new one by camping in forests and parks along the way. Primitive camping starts with the most basic question; do I have what I need to survive until tomorrow? That is exactly where I wanted to start.

I am no Daniel Boone. I don’t hunt my supplies or make them. I buy them. And the ultimate irony is that I sit here now, on a chilly night, warmed by a small fire, typing on my laptop! I guess the concept of “basic” needs has been redefined over the millennia. I can’t help thinking, every time I sit near an open fire, how much it must have changed the lives of ancient man, how much it must have redefined their idea of basic needs. Suddenly there was protection from wild animals, warmth where it had been cold, light when it had been dark.

I departed Gainesville, Florida and have arrived on the wooded fringes of Washington, DC in search of my own fire. Here I am, despite the laptop, and, yes, the cell phone, sitting near the smoky flames, wondering if my New Clothing Enterprise will be successful. The longer I stare into the fire, the more I think I can classify this Enterprise as a success simply because I have tried. Failure would have been sitting and doing what I had been doing; toiling in a joyless routine, suffering from the lack of a challenge, feeling my brain rot inside my head.

The campfire is almost out now. That I can light again tomorrow. It is time to rekindle the fire within.