Eureka

I found it tonight. I had almost given up and then I thought well, it can't hurt to try one more time in this direction... and I found it: my wide, wavy, perfectly paved and traffic-free path to deliverance. It was waiting for me, the rollerblading path to beat all rollerblading paths. Just 200 meters earlier, the sign reads "bike path ends here". And the first time around, I had believed it, and turned around and went home. But this time I wasn't taking no for an answer, and I pressed on. And there it was, just around the next curve. Beckoning. Tempting me with its lustrous black surface. Come, explore my lengths. Ride into the sunset.

And then the noisy, exhaust-filled highway is gone, melted away with startling efficiency. The bridge cowers behind me, unable to outdo the splendour of the sprouting greens in the field and the gnarled arthritic trees lining the path. I startle two white-tailed deer, who sniff danger on the wind and bound across the road directly in front of me. Their flight in turn propels a long white stork from its nest, sends it flying, complaining majestically. What frivolity. Capricious.

A fiery ball burns low on the horizon, turning the sky brilliant shades of pink and violet. I turn off my Walkman, for now the soundtrack from Rent is ugly and awkward, out of place, for inside I have started to sing with my ocean voice. Occo voce. Imagine: here I am living alone in the West that hasn't been won, a desolate small town, barely managing a C+ in Friendship...and my ocean voice can't stop singing. The Baltic Sea, the Petersberg, the Pratau trail. Glimpses of grace. I am overwhelmed.