No one dreams of journeying to a land where they eat grasshoppers off a stick, ride elephants, and squat to go to the bathroom. Especially after getting hammered with a divorce. But, that’s exactly what I’m doing.
Most folks look at me oddly when I tell them what I’m up to so I’ve stopped telling them my plans to get rid of everything and head to Thailand this fall.
Logical? No, I don’t think so, either. But, after five years of trying to define myself inside a marriage it actually makes the most perfect sense in a rather Zen fashion.
See, there’s a Zen story that goes something like this…
The flower that blooms in water is beautiful.
But, the flower that blooms near the flame
Is that much more beautiful.
It seems over the past several years of marriage I’ve done a damn fine job of digging myself a deep watery moat. A nice house, new cars, a couple of dogs, plushy furniture and a TIVO.
I never meant to surround myself with these things. Hell, I was going to be a lifelong bachelor but somehow got swept away (which I don’t regret). However, through marriage I lost touch with who I am.
So, I’m selling my shit. I’ll strap on a backpack and set foot in a country where I don’t speak the language, don’t know a soul, and have absolutely zero-fucking-clue as to what I’ll do once I’m there.
At least I hear the grasshoppers are pretty good.