"Can you put a price on peace?" - Dave Mustaine, Megadeth
I've gone into hiding, at an undisclosed location in the Florida Keys.
There's never a great time to go. There's UPS packages, work, bills, work, animals, work, mail... surely I've forgotten more (work). What matters is that powerful and life-changing forces eventually catch up with you and force you to take your first vacation since 2001, and to hell with how it affects everyone else. I'm not going to write more details of the decision here, mainly because I don't want to remember them, years later when pharmaceuticals have wiped such unpleasant details from my mind.
The Florida Keys have an effect on me, unlike any other place I've been. The people who witness it (only 6 have), call it a profound and shocking transformation. To wit, I Go Native. I wear shorts (never else in my adult life), I do not wear shoes, I drink a lot (again, rather uncommon these days), and I am a happy, positive person, with an amazing sense of humor. Maybe I become the person I was meant to be, before the long work-weeks, IRS payments, and car problems took over.
For this one week, I own this large house, and its accompanying private beach, on a key I refuse to name.
Also, I do not know how to swim, but I have purchased my Florida Saltwater Fishing License, as well as a tax stamp for crawfish (lobsters), and I intend to learn within a few hours. Then, I might even graduate to scuba classes.
That's about all I'm going to tell you until I come out of exile. If I ever do.
-Chris
(Honorable Mention: Seeing the greatest movie of all time, "Rock N Roll High School", featuring The Ramones, on a reel so scratched it had to be original. Thank you for the experience of a lifetime, Enzian Theater.)