I grew up in a world that didn’t understand me, and in some ways, it still doesn’t. Throughout my childhood, I was always reading, and always looking for answers in the books I loved so much. It seems that I was isolated to the point that I might as well have lived in the mouth of a whale with my notebooks and a candle. Thomas Slatin

This morning, I ran to the water, took all my clothes off, stood at the waters edge and gazed awhile in the solace of silence. I took a deep breath, still burdened with the memories of living in a constant state of reckless abandon. A stick floating down the river reminded me of my own life, where everyone warned me that if I left, life would beat me down. The stick, such as my life will inevitably get bashed among the rocks, experiencing highs and lows, might eventually be rewarded by one day finding the ocean. Everyone stayed while I went away. I was pushed to my breaking point many…

I have always had an obvious aversion to following the well-beaten path. I am a free spirit, a roadless soul with no intentions of ever stopping or even slowing down, through space and time, with sky above and earth below; I am a creation of now. Thomas Slatin

Whenever I went to work as a firefighter, I promised my family that no matter what happened at work, I would come home safely after my shift. Also, if the unthinkable happened and I didn’t survive, I wanted to be remembered not for the way in which I died, but instead, how I lived. Thomas Slatin