In response to an email about my ordeal getting back to Saipan
after a recent trip to New York, a friend asked me,

"...You ended with "I'm finally home." Does this mean you don't consider NY your home anymore, or even Jamaica? :-)"

to which I replied:

Home? Hmmmm....that's always been a tough one for me to be clear about.

"Home"used to be Jamaica, and perhaps it still is ultimately when all is said and done. I think I may have told you all of this before, but perhaps I need to re-say it, for my own clarity.

As great as it is, I've never really considered NY my home. It was the most familiar place to hang my hat since that's where I've lived most of my life, but it was never home. I returned there after living 3 years in Silver Spring, Maryland because I knew people there and it was easier to resume life in a familiar place. But, as I've recently realized, it was chosen FOR me. I never chose to come here from Jamaica. Nor did I choose Jamaica, for that matter. If one looks at things purely from this plane of existence, it was through history and an "accident" of birth that I ended up there, but I never consciously chose Jamaica either. (Yes, I believe from a metaphysical and spiritual perspective, my soul chose the parents, time and location of my arrival on this plane, but you know what I mean!)

Saipan, therefore, is the first country I've lived in that was by my own free will and choice. In that regard it represents a whole different ballgame of happiness.

Having said that, I'm also open-minded and adventurous in regard to where I live. So, by no means does this move represent anything final either.

I'm at a place in life where I'm enjoying the residual benefits of a lot of work I put in for the past 10 years (yes, even when it seemed like all I did was sit around at the computer wasting time, this is what I was building) :-)

"It" is still not complete, but I can continue to build it at any pace and in any place that suits me, and so the goal is to simply experience more paces and places.

There's a growing list of places this nomadpreneur adventure will take me. I'll be traveling and enjoying life, and who knows, I may change into a completely different person along the way at any time.

In an interview, Bob once said (by the way, every true Jamaican is duty-bound to quote "Bob" Marley at least once in every conversation!), "My home is in my head."

So who knows, perhaps there is no real home for the nomad, just a series of happy experiences on a never-ending journey.

I love you and all my friends I made while in the states, and there is no way to minimize the tremendous impact you all, ACN, Columbia, the Port Authority, Tag Team and "the Briarwood 7" have had on my life. But it would not be beyond the realm of possibility that I simply sail off into the sunset and all this becomes simply a pleasant memory of happy times gone by.

Yes, there is a sadness about it all as well. Separation in the pursuit of happiness brings with it a sense of loss and sorrow, I admit. But happiness must prevail.

I want to be happy, and for now at least, happiness means honoring the call from afar, indulging my preferences, and never allowing myself to be bound by the familiar, or shackled by the chains of habit and circumstance. I can't allow NY or any place to hold me simply because it has become habitual, no matter how sweet my friendships there are.

So, to answer your question, "You ARE returning, aren't you?" If you mean am I returning for the occasional special event, the answer is yes. But if you mean shall I return to resume living in America, then the answer is "who knows." Just as I made and kept a promise to myself never to return to the corporate world, THIS move as well is based on the same kind of promise never to live somewhere that doesn't resonate with whom I wish to be....

you ask a writer a simple question, and you get a book
in reply!--Walt


Now having said all that...let the adventure continue!

See The World (Quicktime Version)

Labels: Lifestyle

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