A breath of fresh air.

     Chandler Jones, an adventurous and talented musician from Florence, Alabama, has been one of my closest pals for many years. During high school, we were inseparable. We spent almost every day together and developed a bond that perplexed many outsiders. When the time came to go off to college, we visited each other frequently. After finishing the first year of college, we both devoted the following year of our lives to growing within ourselves and discovering who we were meant to be--away from each other. Because of the dire necessity of this, we removed each other from our lives entirely.

     Wednesday, we had a heartwarming reunion and then spent the next five days relishing in the excitement of a new-but very old friendship. Each of us have accomplished the goals that we set out to achieve. He's a secure, artful, focused, and ambitious explorer who is fueled by positive energy. I'm a determined, passionate, placid, and open-hearted lover-of-all-things that believes that nurturing the strength of one's spirit is one of the most important things a person can ever do. For us to bring these key qualities of our identities into the light, we had to abandon the things that made sense to us and dive blindly into all things unknown. The result--infinitely better versions of ourselves that desire to continue growing until the very end.

Walking,

talking,

Rivertown's terrible coffee,

Coke in glass bottles,

laughter,

reminiscing,

Dr. Peppers,

roof tops,

antiques,

dancing,

rail slides,

blogs,

poetry readings,

walking,

talking,

hiking,

tours of the Shoals,

card games,

ghost bridges,

hammocking campouts,

mini shows,

much more walking,

much more talking, 

and so, so much more.

"And the tree was happy."

-Shel Silverstein