Over the course of the following few weeks, I still didn’t know exactly what it was that I was supposed to Do, and yet I did know that it was time to Do something – time to start embracing whatever opportunities came my way instead of looking for things “bigger” or “more important” to engage; time to start focusing on serving others in whatever “small” ways I could instead of looking in vain for a “Higher Calling.” And so after traipsing about town ceaselessly looking for “my spot” (somewhere to sleep that was free from intrusions by both the police and my fellow homeless compatriots), I eventually made my way to the public rec-center just north of the city limits and “lived” there for the better part of 2004 – sometimes taking shelter under picnic pavilions, sometimes dozing fitfully on the metal bleachers next to the softball fields there, and yet mostly sleeping on a tennis court bench …

“How can one take delight in the world unless one flees to it for refuge?” ~ Franz Kafka

“You’re not homeless, man … You’re home-free!” ~ Aaron, a wandering Big Island compatriot

Filed under: My Life in Pictures by Scaughdt