...

It gets lonely on the road.  The mind dredges up all sorts of things without distractions like work, school, daily living chores, family, and friends.  A massage therapy friend once explained to me that sometimes, on the table, people will cry as deep knots are worked because they have been holding in emotion with their tightened muscles.

 A solitary road trip is like your first massage:

•  Long overdue
• A bit uncomfortable at first, and may hurt if you aren't assertive about what you need
• Leaves you wondering, "why the hell did I wait so long to do this?"

OK, maybe that was a bad analogy, but give me a break...I live in a constant state of dehydration on the road to avoid excessive bathroom breaks, and haven't exactly been eating healthy.  That PF shirt above is complete irony.  It's got to be affecting my brain.

Who is a person, when all their major life components are taken away?  For example, who are you if not your job title (or student status), without your family obligations (spouse, parent), or even without your familiar surroundings?  What if all that was removed, and you were in a different place every day, with different rules and culture...what part of you remains consistent and unchangeable?  It's a strange journey, and the answers may surprise you.

My time at this hotel is coming to a close.  Time to hit the road again.
~A






P.S.  This ghost journey brings to light that soon we will all be ghosts, or a pile of ashes, to quote The Wreckers.  If there are souls lingering, we seem to think it's because they had unfinished business in life.  If you died today, what would haunt you?  What have you turned away from out of fear?  You'd better start doing it, like, now.  Life won't tell you when it's coming to a close.