Freedom

I usually am a fairly oriented person. It's a side effect of spending far too much of my youth with my nose buried in an atlas instead of outside in the fresh air. I usually know which was is north, where the nearest big cities are, what's coming up when, and so on and so forth. Once I've been to a place once, I can usually find my way back without (too much) assistance.

So Saturday night, at the party, I wandered outside and stared up at the most beautiful night sky I'd ever seen and I realized that between one rural back road and another, I had no idea where I was. Somewhere between Rochester, Austen and Winona was the nearest I could think.

The Universe suddenly felt very large and I felt very small and almost invisible. Normally, that tends to depress people- myself included. It makes you feel small and insignificant. But this time, it felt wonderful. No one, myself included, could find me. The World had grown large and I had become invisible. There was a free keg of Miller Light back inside the bar and I just felt this incredible surge of goodness run through me.

I didn't know where I was. But the beer was free, the world was shut out for a few hours and I had never felt better.

I felt free. And it was great.