Trip begins on June 21st

I set this site up a little early but I wanted to do that so I spent as little time as possible working with the blog during my vacation, and more time relaxing and writing when it hits me.

Until then, enjoy the music! As my brother Corey could tell you, in classical times music usually ended with the same note as it began. This is how the listener could feel the music was complete. Life, vacations, our day, and sometimes even our thoughts :0) follow this same process. It's all the notes in between that really make the song ;0)

The Keys has been a decision of many years. I have been to many other places including South Beach but have never made it to the Keys, though it has been on my mind. Luckily I'm not going during Fantasy Fest, or any of the other celebrations the Key's is known for sometimes.....I can't imagine those events would fit my personality well. I'm not really going for anything that makes the Keys well known, other than it's beauty, seas, and also to visit the Hemingway home. I have also fancied driving across the Overseas Highway and am much looking forward to the feeling of rolling over the clear seas of the Keys.

As a youth I never showed much interest in writing, or even much reading for that matter. Then there were three books I read that changed me forever. First to mention was the Holy Bible, front to back, as it is the most important of any. Then there was Hemingway's "True at First Light", as well as Robert Fagle's translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (I consider the Iliad and Odyssey as one writing). Hemingway's way of describing the world around him inspired me, and I took note of the fact his many travels aided in this ability.

Since these times I have traveled more miles than I would have ever imagined, and each place has taught me something new. One thing I have learned through it all is that what you get from the destination is up to you. For the Key's my mind has set to one of the things I plan to do, and that is write.

I can't imagine I will ever be a rich and famous writer, nor would it be in my nature to seek those riches or the fame. Quite opposite is the question lingering in my mind as to whether my writings will give back to the world in some way or whether what I have to say gets washed out in the white noise of all the other voices in the world. The population of the world at the moment is 6,783,421,727 people, in Shakespeare's time no more than 600,000,000 people wandered the globe, and the literate population would have been far less. Books are now on every shelf everywhere written by just about anyone on anything, and Google has slapped just about every written page on the walls of it's digital universe for anyone to see at any time. In a time when "elevator speeches" and getting your point across in as few words as possible is becoming ever more popular, well written words that describe the world to your senses as a song would are much like waggon wheels and washboards. People pass by, say "neat", hop into their car, and speed away as they must be there by 6:00pm. ;0)

I had an interesting discussion some months ago with a friend about giving something big to the world, and how I wrangle with that from time to time. Her response was that the things I did for people, in daily life, added up to a big thing. That person has since come and gone but the words will stay forever. I think it is a realistic outlook for life and my writings. If they give something in small ways then it is as big as it should be. I don't disillusion myself as the next Homer, or Hemingway, or Shakespeare, nor should anyone place upon themselves the burden of achieving that status, as it would be artificial to the cause.

But to be good I know I must work at it, and give it effort. I have learned you can't let your level of accomplishment be determined by opinions or you will only use 10% of what God gave you. The last thing I would want to do is to sit back and talk about how good somebody else is at writing and how I wish I could do that.

I know I have to somehow align at least a part of my life and what I do in it with how much I care about people, love, and life. Earning a dollar and career success just aren't completing the picture, and each day I leave my work and take a moment to look at the passing sky I know there is more purpose.

So what again does this have to do with the Keys? ;0) Well, I don't really know myself yet. I know I want to write, I know the Keys have been in my mind, and I've felt for a while I would like to mix the two together and see what happens. Oh, and yes, I hope to relax too. :0)

A good book closes much like it opens, it's all the words in between that really makes the story... ;0)