Have a Good Life...

In 2001 I travelled South Asia and South East Asia

on barely a dollar...

I was looking for something, and by God I found it.

l climbed like Hilary, got lost like Marlow

hiked the Himalayas in old running shoes,

swam in the Indian ocean on a dare,

dove in the Andaman Sea with hardly a breath

and in between it all...

I met some interesting people along the way.

I travelled to remote places in Northern India

and did the same in Western Nepal.

I fell in love, sat on rooftops at sunset,

read when I was alone, cried,

got my heart broken, lost it all

and found the strength to start again.

I caught flights on old Russian cargo planes

and rode in the back of dusty trucks

with migrants and livestock as a matter of choice.

I was travelling in a place worth the living.

I met people that invited me

into their homes, fed me what little

they had and gave me a place to sleep.

Salt of the Earth type of people.

People that didn't have much

but were rich in generosity.

We were Worlds apart.

But we had drink and we had heart

and that closed the distance.

We laughed when there was a joke

and we cried when it was time to part.

Those times tie me to the mast...

I don't remember all their names.

as I remember their faces.

But most of all, I remember their hands.

That memory is burned deep.

Weathered and torn hands like my fathers.

Hands that said more than

a lifetime...

I learned a lot about life from these people.

I learned how wrong I was living my life.

And then months down the line,

I found myself hitchhiking a lonely road

in Southern Thailand.

A blue eyed Angel named Kitty

from the Netherlands pulled over and

offered me a ride. She was straight out

of a Dylan song, in every way possible.

We were both travelling on the roll of a drum

to the same destination, Koh Phi Phi.

By the skin of our teeth, we spent

the next two weeks side-by-side,

sharing every thing nickel by dime by baht

that made us and kept us alive.

She used to be a hot shot executive for a Dutch

oil company. Then one day the bell rang backwards

and her life just changed.

Her best friend died of cancer.

She quit her job.

Material possessions became useless.

She moved to the north of Holland

and found herself in a one legged village

working as a waitress.

She said she found where it was at and made real

connections and friendships with each person

that walked into her life...

Through a great loss in her life,

She had found what she was looking for.

Often I'm drawn to her memory. It's how I hold

her hand. There were so many moments

where something she said, did or even

with a glance moved me by miles.

And in those moments, I would quietly remind myself

how I was the luckiest man on the planet.

We said we wouldn't exchange emails or addresses.

We left it to what it was. A moment in time.

A pure experience of Love.

Then we parted...

I shed many tears reckless and lost

and spent countless days

thinking about her... But it

was a nice memory to have

on the road, and a companion to me now.

I'll never forget her last words, the way

she said it, the look in her eyes

and how they still cut true to this day...

"Have a Good Life, eh."

And that memory folks... is my pocket ace for life.

-TheStory