This lifetime has shaped me in ways that I suspect will always leave me a certain bit lonely. I can’t imagine that there actually is someone who could fit into the strange shapes that have been carved out by the winds. My father likes to discuss the great mystery of why I am not out there roaming the streets with no connection to reality. If I were bitter, cold, angry, dissociative, evil, vengeful… dead and dark in the eye, no one would dare fault me. In the end I find I can only be grateful. I have been entertained beyond belief… I have seen things through the eyes of true madness. I have been hurt to the death… I have laughed to the point where I could no longer feel the confines of my humanity. I have known moments of pure joy in things not visible to the ordinary senses… I have drowned in the abyss of inconsolable sadness. I have lived through a million miles… I have died a thousand deaths. I have been caged… I have been freed.