Life's Not a Dress Rehearsal

“Living has little to do with biology and much to do with the ghost within this machine we call “us.” So many people are the walking dead. But now as the sunrise comes to my beloved Texas Hill Country home, my mind lives in the here and now, and also in the then and there. Every now becomes a memory—in an instant. Life is beautiful and dreams do come true. We simply must hold in our hearts and minds the image of what matters most—and keep casting homeward. We must all choose to live many lives—now.”

~ Steve Ramirez, Casting Homeward: An Angler and Naturalist’s Journey to America’s Legendary Rivers

This morning over coffee in a half-wake semi-dream state I began to count my blessing as is my habit, and I began to marvel at the many lives I have lived within this single life and the many adventures I’ve experienced and hopefully have yet to experience. And whenever I demonstrate what an Imperfect Texan Buddha I am by attaching myself to a desire, I have to relearn and old lesson to let go and let life flow. This doesn’t mean I don’t paddle… I do… but I accept whatever some may call “God’ and I might call “The Universe” desires me to do and be in this moment and time – whatever time may be.

This year I am in transition once again, as I am always, in that I will be introducing the world to my youngest “child” Casting Homeward, while I do my best to enter into another passionate relationship with life that might lead to yet another literary sibling. To that effect I intend to journey to Portugal, Campeche, Mexico, and Argentina and I will be keeping my eyes open for an opportunity to include somewhere in Central America or the Caribbean. As a starving artist I must be creative if I am going to make this happen – I have already sold most of my belongings of any value in order to pay for past travels, the closets are getting bare – as I wanted them to be as I work hard to live a minimalist lifestyle.

“Things are a weight around our necks that benefit only the sellers of things; being free of things is freedom itself.” I wish to be free to lock up my how whenever the mood hits me and leave for part known and unknown. I wish to be free to live many lives – now. How about you?

Life is not a dress rehearsal y’all… this is it. People wonder how it is that I have climbed mountains from Italy to Scotland to Montana to Peru and have explored beneath the seas of the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and walked the streets of Rome, Edinburgh, Cape Town, and Cusco, and hunted kudu in Namibia and pronghorn in Colorado, and cast my fly line from Alaska to Montauk to the Turks and Caicos Islands, and… well… it’s because I don’t care about things. These same people see nothing wrong with SPENDING 60k on a car – not counting interest on the loan while they see it as crazy if I INVEST 6k on an adventure that will only appreciate in time and in which I will never lose interest.

I don’t care about things unless that are tools that help me to experience Life. I care about Living. I care about moments and memories. I care about meaning. I care about relationships and shared experiences. That’s how I do it. I just do. How about you?

Life’s not a dress rehearsal y’all… This is it.

Keep Casting Homeward Y’all…