Drawn to the Flame

As it goes with me, I first feel that invisible magnetic pull as my compass starts spinning wildly and perks my senses as to a change of venue being eminent. I debate where on earth my next bed will be rolled out, as this “magnetic effect” descends on my consciousness and a familiar little “black and blue” angel arrives on my shoulder and begins violently whispering in my ear as with an Electric Megaphone… threatening!
That if I listen to the other side again I am doomed to more calamity as times before, and yes, I systematically agree with every word he quietly speaks as I thump him against the nearest wall with a forefinger, “thus the coloration of the bugger”, turn and pack my bags and get on with it!

I have determined that I know little about life. I have learned a few lessons, none too severe. I have figured out my groove, it’s not for every one, most importantly I try to keep it simple! All in all it has been one beautiful voyage! Remember, life is it’s own entity. Imagine a big ole downtown department store where I stand on the sidewalk gazing in to a beautifully dressed and arranged storefront window, while the scratchy outdoor speakers play some far away romantic tune. This is what I know about life. Simply, that what I see and hear makes me feel what I feel, and do what I do. I guess on any given day you can look and see something different, a new arrangement of things that are available, you just pick something out and go for it. Oh yes making a good choice is the other not so simple, simple thing. One day I looked in and saw a place in Africa.

Niassa Reserve seethes under the heat of November, every tree, every blade of grass, thorn, and animal, looking to the sky for relief, relief that’s sure to come as always this month or next. Not, mind you, without a little or a lot of teasing from the clouds. The birds and animals can feel the change and you might think you can, but not really, you can only hypothesize. Here you have to be born and survive to a proper adulthood if your that fortunate, man or beast, maybe then you will be granted the knowing of what is coming down the wind, sometime it’s better not to know.

I unfortunately or fortunately wasn’t born here nor did I have to fight to reach adulthood as everything born here is destined to do. Tealeaves were cast and read, the Display Window orchestrated as to effect my wanderings and to this place of wildness I arrived. As I look back beyond the obvious, deeper and deeper into that large dressed window that brought me here, a very complex scene continues to emerge. So I stand and gaze in so as to enlighten myself of all that Niassa is, all that she will or will not become and in this manner I have stepped into a life I will never truly be able to completely embrace as I would like. But just the same, what little I have been so graciously blessed to participate in, I truly relish as some of the best living I have ever experienced. AP