Spring and Love are in the Air, and The Man Who Quit Money

"Just another kid going through life worried that I won't be accepted. But I could do anything, you said that, and you meant that." Look What You've Done by Drake

When I looked at my organizer yesterday to make notes of what I need to do today, I was pleasantly surprised to see that today is the first day of spring. I am a dreamer, and spring is the opportunity to plant dreams, give them some nourishment and patience and see where they will go. Two of my dreams are to become a successful writer, and to find a beautiful lady to spend my leisure time with. This morning I feel optimistic about both.

This past weekend I met Mark Sundeen, an established writer, and author of the new book, The Man Who Quit Money. He was in town for a book reading at Maria’s Bookstore, here in Durango. He also crashed out at the place I’m house sitting at, along with Daniel Suelo, the subject of the book, the guy who doesn’t use money. Since I am an emerging writer who doesn’t quite make my living at it just yet, when I met an established writer, I typically bombard them with questions about “making it.” Every writer has their own little nuggets of advice, and the one thing I got from Sundeen was just to keep at it. He told me of his struggles and successes, as I absorbed every word he had to say. Sundeen appears to be on the road to success with his latest book, and I’ve really liked what I’ve read so far in The Man Who Quit Money. I will post a review up here when I am done with the book.

Another incident I wanted to reflect on happened a few weeks ago, back in the heart of winter. Basically it all occurred when the truck I was driving broke down. I was reliant on this beast, a big old Dodge diesel truck, because my car, The Freedom Mobile, could not get to the place where I was house sitting. The owners of the house left me their truck for when it snowed, and the road required four wheel drive.

When a vehicle breaks down one quickly reaches out to those close to him for help. I’m relatively new in Durango, so my network of friends reflects that; there are really only a handful of people I feel comfortable reaching out for help in a situation like this. I ended up calling my friend Andrew, who is one of my closest pals in Durango, and also happens to be a mechanic. The truck needed some work, so he gave me a lift to his place to spend the night. (My house sitting gig was 45 minutes from town, too far to ask someone to give me a lift out there.)

Anyways at Andrew’s place that evening, I had some time on my hands and decided to look through my journal. I write in it sporadically, and it contains three to four years of thoughts, journaling, and randomness. One thing I noticed was that I wrote a lot about pining for certain women, and for love in general. I also noticed when there were times when I did have a woman, and was in love, and I rarely reflected in my journal during those times. I think there’s a lesson to be learned there. When I had what I wanted did I take it for granted? Or is love just made for the sake of it, and there’s no reason to reflect?

Journaling is the form of writing that, for me, proceeded nonfiction essays, fiction writing and poetry. It is a kind of writing everyone can do, with no judgment from others. I know many people write in their journal and never show it to anyone. Personally I rarely show my journal to anyone. It is a personal place for self exploration.

Now that I am single again and spring is in the air, I can just sense the inevitability of love; it just has to happen. It is why we are here. It is scary, risks must be taken, but what is life without risk? What is love without risk?

A final note on risk, I am talking about the risk of the heart, not that risk one takes when they sleep with someone they took home from the bar. That is the worst kind of risk to take, have patience my friends, love is in your destiny.

And that quote at the beginning, that one is for a past love, you know who you are :)