The month is June. The year is 2020. Who will I be one year from now? The work of Skid Row Housing Trust will be behind me. Los Angeles will be a distant memory. My partner will be miles away from me. A trail will be the highway that moves me closer to a place I should have never left. Leaving these experiences behind and gaining new ones will change me. Yet, I cannot help but wonder who I will be in June of 2020.

The month is June. The year is 2020. How will time and place be different from now? In the non-traditional sense of the word, I will be homeless. Every night, I will fall asleep beneath stars; a canopy of dots luring me to sleep. Every day will consist of a nomadic life but instead of chasing the herd, we will find ourselves focused concretely on Canada. That wooden terminus is the finish line, but it isn’t the goal.

The month is June. The year is 2020. Who will my partner be? Distance will become us, and it will attempt to define, but only if we let it. Change for him will be inevitable. He will be forced to walk his own journey. It may not be a physical path, but his strength will be tested, nonetheless. For some, this may be a scary proposition, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. The trials and fires of life are meant to test us

The month is June. The year is 2020. Who will we be as a couple? If we can survive this time apart from each other then there is no doubt in my mind about the future. Time and distance will test our resolve. There will be moments when all we will have to hold is a telephone. It has to be enough. It must be enough. Communication, honesty, and commitment will be key. Everything I know about this relationship tells me we have what it takes to make forever a reality. 2020 will reveal the truth.

The month is June. The year is 2020. The answers to these questions move me to the next adventure. I do not fear the answers. I do not fear the responses. I do not fear the outcomes. I fear never asking these questions in the first place. I fear a mediocre life. I fear dreams left unrealized. I fear not chasing adventure in the first place. Sure, much of my life has not gone according to the script. On more than one occasion, I have defied logic and written my own story. Of all my accomplishments, it is this truth that fills me with the most pride.

Be good to each other,

Nathan 

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