When I left California way back then I told myself two things. I told myself that someday I would have my own doggie and that someday I would be back in Southern California. It took a decade but I finally did partner with a doggie. I told that story in Shawnee the Bookstore Dog. But I’ve never returned to Southern California. (I did visit Northern California once, though.)

I am so glad I decided to write this story because I haven’t really thought about that chapter in my life in a very long time. I was inspired by how brave I was way back then in my twenties. I’m not nearly as brave anymore now that I’m an old fart. I’m not really brave at all anymore. That has really got me thinking.

Now there is no way in heck that I would live on the road hitchhiking. No way! (Where would I plug in my laptop?) Although I have burned three of my novels in my life (the one in the story was my second one), that is also something I would never do again. I’m just too old for that.

Homelessness is something I don’t ever want to do again and something that I am now too old for. But I’m glad that I had the experience.

Chasing a woman with abandon is also something I have no intention of doing again. By the way, if you want to know what happened next, I’ll give you a snippet. It took ten months of being in Texas but I finally found her. Actually, she found me. Out of the blue, she just showed up at my front door one day. Four days later we were married. We lived happily ever after for the better part of twenty years. Our soul-mate daughter came to live with us as did our soul-mate wolf-dog. The plans we all made before coming into our lives came into fruition.

I made it easier for her to find me because after disappearing I reappeared when I went back to Texas. I had too many friends and relatives in Texas that it was impossible to be disappeared. I kept running into people I knew. The supreme joy of disappearing is something else that was good to remember about that time so long ago. But it, too, is something that I just don’t think I can do again. After all, I’ve got granddaughters now.

I was inspired to write this story at just the right time because I needed to remember the old me from way back then and compare him to the current me. I was really stupid back then but I never let that stop me from doing anything. Now I’m slightly less stupid but I am no longer brave. And I’m less passionate and more safe and sedentary.

My life has been a never-ending story and many parts of it have not been even remotely fascinating. There are plenty of boring chapters stuck between the exciting ones. Plenty. Nowadays I spend most of my life writing instead of doing things worth writing about. Writing this story helped me realize that.

Anything we do can be inspiring if we do it from the heart.