This Email Made My Day

Thanks very much to Vagabond Dreams reader “Voyageur” who took the time to drop me a line this week:

I received the gift-book on Sunday from my visiting brother-in-law and regretfully put it down last night after having read and savoured each page. More than a mere travelogue, this semi-autobiography revealed not just your visual interpretations of the landscapes and bodies of water which you encountered in your odyssey, but also delved into your interior workings as the days wended their way into your history.

Quite frankly, I was taken aback at the sincerity and emotion which you put into the tale — Lawrence Durrell would gladly have passed the mantle.

A lot of your musings struck a chord with me, even at my advanced age, because I felt so much of that “apartness” from my peers when I was growing up and wishing that I could go elsewhere in an effort to get out of the societal box and discover who and what I was at the time.

Thanks again for the privilege of sharing your thoughts, your feelings, and your undisguised joy.

“Voyageur”

I really enjoy reading feedback like that.

Not just because you liked the book. But because it spoke to something within you. It called up memories from your own past, and maybe it helped put some of those memories into perspective.

I tried to tell the story as honestly as possible, even when I felt pretty embarrassed to do so. Partly because I wish I would have read something like that back then. But mostly because I knew there are so many people out there like you who can relate. Both people who set out on the road for the first time, and people who feel trapped by the place they came from and who yearn for a larger world.

I wanted you to know there’s hope for people like us. That you don’t have to just accept what they tell ya. That you really can blaze your own trail and create the life of your choice.

Get out there and do it. Start today.