GMAN447

To sum up a life such a short format seems somehow vulgar and offensive. We are so much more than a paragraph or two. That said, I am an artist, a poet, a musician, a reader, a lover of cinema, a photographer, a chef, an intellectual, an idiot, a patriot and a rebel. I’m a friend and a lover, the best part of someone’s day, even if it’s only my own. I’m comfortable in my own skin, but sometimes I don’t come off that way. I’m always trying to understand, to figure things out, asking questions and bringing up crazy subject no one else seems interested in. I notice things, and appreciate the world around me. I stop and smell the roses and breath the mountain air. I’m a hiker, a swimmer, and a mountain climber. I love the ocean, but the mountains are like air. I couldn’t live without them. So I visit the ocean as often as I get the chance but I live in Montana surrounded by what I seem to need, and I’m happy. I learned to surf a couple years ago, and I learned to ski last year (Why didn’t I take the time before now?). I love learning new things and creating new experiences. I love being with good friends, and I love being alone. I love making new friends and remembering those that have come and gone. I wonder often how we can change so much without ever changing at all.

One warm summer evening a few years ago I headed down East River Road north of Minneapolis listening to Coldplay and being pleasantly distracted by the view of the Mississippi River. I turned east on 85th Avenue Northwest and pulled into the parking lot of Target remembering a few random items I needed to pick up. As I negotiated the bedlam that is the modern day parking lot and stole into an open spot a woman approached the car facing mine and unlocked the door. Suddenly I sat transfixed and breathless as she tossed her purchases into the passenger seat and gracefully edged behind the wheel. I don’t know why I was so taken by this beautiful creature, there are many such in this world, but my heart broke as she adjusted her seat, started the motor and backed away and out of my life forever. I’d like to meet her, and every other would be friend that might have been, had fate not abandoned me…