freedom

seemingly easily understood word - freedom - but I'm like those academics and that one crazy dude who created the most renowned dictionary of the time - I have working drafts of what the word means.

maybe my definition has to move more along the lines of the photographic dictionary, with images which evoke some emotion that awakens the majority with some understanding.

if so, mine would be a split screen of the wreck of a campsite, mid-morning, no breakfast or fire started, much packing to do, and the woman who thinks you two are "dating" has made you momentarily mad but starts hammering that tiny nail in by making you the bad guy to the 10 year old child for not letting them paddle in the canoe. split with the image of a phone call-less week and this new, beautiful ebony djembe drum made with earth-friendly wood and, stamped on the goat skin head, the words "freedom drum".

so, camping started my week wrong but meeting a couple of really great academics [who knew?]this last week, buying thoughtful gifts for friends and family and, more than anything, sitting quietly this weekend and feeling, really feeling, that crispness like an early winter's breeze, of freedom. A sensation I haven't had access to in over a year. I'm finally starting to breathe deeply again.