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thy
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you can always make your own path, a better path, one thats shorter, safer, more efficient, even more fun! thats what i did with the old beaten path to the school bus and the market, across the empty field, across the street from the house where i grew up. no snow, or not much to speak of ('it snowed? when?' today. it was melted by noon ... 'damn, and i slept in, well... itll snow again next year'), but plenty of weeds and brush (watch out for the yuccas!).
the path was already there, but it wasnt very straight. it was longer than it needed to be, and it went out of the way at one point. it looked as if it started off as a critter trail. and for awhile, as a kid, i accepted that this was the path, and i walked on it. but i started to realize, you know, as a kid, that the path was flexible, that the weeds got matted down, and then eventually they were worn away. there were stones, but i could kick them away.
the path was changing, because of me.
at this point, i said fuck it, im gonna be walkin and ridin this path, both to and from... well, just about everywhere im gonna be going, i might as well just make this path - my path. a good path. a damn good path. the best damn path that field had ever seen, or would ever see! (not really a great achievement, but you know, kids.)
so i figured out where it was gonna go. i basically just made a straight line that kinda curved at the begining and the end to fit the terrain. it wasnt very creative, but hey, it was a path, not a movie plot-line or something. but it avoided obvious obstacles and rough terrain, something that the previous path(s) hadnt. and it got me from point a to point b faster, and once i settled on one way to go, one path to take, eventually it flattened out even more, and widened out, from a single track to a path wide enough to pass someone on.
it was a good path.
eventually, i used part of the path as the lead-in to a pretty kick ass dirt jump i installed, right in the middle of the path. it didnt take me long to realize i made this nice path, and then i put in this big knarly jump/hole. but it also didnt take me too long to think of just making the path big enough to go around it too.
i used that path for over ten years. everyday, or almost every day.
fire has scoured that path, natures rebirth has flowered on that path, and earthquakes have shaken that path.
i ran away from home on that path (two, three times? who knows), i have been high on that path, drunk too. ive cried my eyes out on that path, ran screaming, chasing the school bus on that path, ive laughed maniacally and talked to myself on that path, ive smiled quietly to myself on that path, and i can say with pretty good certainty, that ive puked on that path. ive ran excitedly home on that path, and ive hung my head in shame, inching my way down that path. ive ate shit on that path, and had a panic attack on that path. i fell off a horse onto asphalt as a little kid just feet from that path.
for few minutes a day, i lived on that path. i love that path.
its still there.
though its not as straight, its overgrown, the entrance and exit are a little different, and the knarly jump is now just a lump... but its still there.
maybe some kid still walks that path, and thinks 'i can make this better.'
always remember: you can make your own path, a better path, one thats longer, more exciting, less efficient, and even less fun!
(ya know, if thats your thing; )
i wish to you,
my friends,
happy trails!
the happiest of trails.
- thy
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