Case Closed

About 2 months too late but I figured now that I've been back for a while, turned 29 years old yesterday and need to move on with life and the torrential downpour that ensues from it; I need to wrap up this blog.

Sitting here at my usual coffee shop, Venice Grind in Culver City, CA and I must say I haven't grown as much since I returned compared to when I left. I still remember the last day in Amsterdam, sat around drinking and smoking with Pat until 5:30 AM; only to wake up at 6:00 to catch a flight to London then back home. I was going to miss Pat, and I wanted to spend as many waking hours with him for who knew when I was ever going to see him again. I threw up that morning and my stomach was so queezy; it was like the thunderous backdrop for crab fishermen. I was scared and sad and slightly excited to see my family.

Let me just catch up on everything. I just turned 29 and things have been good; I was quickly reminded of how many great people I had waiting for me back home. Pat came back to LA as well. Funny how I can't get rid of him. And Pom from Belgium, she came down and couchsurfed with me and we both had a blast. She's onward somewhere else now and again, I'm left wondering when/if I'll ever see her again. The book front has been tough, the love front hasn't been easier, but the charm of a well-traveled soul is wearing thin.

I look back on the trip and it's almost as if it didn't even happen to me. The readjustment is tough and I still find myself lost and in disarray - jobless, homeless and worst of all purposeless. What I liked most about traveling was that I was able to bask in the solitude because of it was always temporary and fleeting; but it appears to have followed me home. I'm just in between floors right now; hopefully moving up.

But this trip has certainly changed my life and my perspective on the world. The alleys of Lvov, the slush in my boots, Mikey in his underwear, all those people...all those places and challenges and sleepless nights.....I long for them more than anything else. When I was sitting in Stoney's apartment, planning this trip 8 months ago, his friend that was there told me,

"Man, you're going to love it. I once waited 14 hours in the cold and the snow at a bus stop for a bus that never came. I wanted to just go home. And when I came back home all I could think was, 'I'd give anything to be back at that bus stop, waiting in the snow.'"

As if putting off the final write up would allow my adventure to continue. As if I could just go see Ed in Odessa or play backgammon with Gonca or get fresh bread from Albert Hein, get blown away by Amanda's thoughts, or have a drink with 15 year old girls at a squatted building with prostitutes walking around in white corsets.

I can't believe all this really happened, but it did. And this is my testament. And I hope it happens to you.

Trust me, you wouldn't believe it either.