Anyway

I wasn't gong to blog today. Lots of reasons not to. I am tired and sore from moving my daughter yesterday, and my scratchy throat suggests a mild virus. Then I realized that Derrick leaves today for his long-awaited trip. After all that planning and uncountable and insufferable posts, he's on his way. So what? He's just another of so many paddlers going around some place or other, isn't he?

Actually, no. He is a guy I happen to know...and like (my tastes are as strange as his). He is a guy with whom I've paddled, drank and laughed. He is a guy who is a dad and a husband, and he bleeds just like the rest of us. He is a guy going on a trip and looking for a whole lot of stuff that may not be there. He is a restless man trying to find that comfort zone in life that may not exist in reality. He is...well, he is Derrick. If you know him, no other explanations are needed. If you don't, none can explain it.

So, I join with so many others in wishing him well. I have even gone through all the trouble of finding and posting the picture he dislikes just so he won't get too mellow and complacent. Now, along with I don't know how many people, I will check his Following the Anna site each day (click on the link) and worry in between. Just as I will worry about another friend, Nydia, until I hear that her portion of open water paddling has been completed.

Sure, the journey is worth more than the goal. In reality, I think, the real gold is found in coming home and spinning the stories about the journey and waiting to see how it's changed you.

Derrick has left the building.

Paddle safe...

DS