Captain Pike's Ship Log II

Many years ago, my great friend John and I met a couple of young women and their companion, while traveling in Paris. The girls had obvious and natural attractions and their friend was a great guy whom I liked right off and we got together the next day and explored some more together. We wrote back and forth, this new fellow and I, for a while after I returned home to the US.



Life is an assiduous assailant on any human attempt of permanence – institutions perish, orbits decay and relationships will falter. It's the natural order of things, through no fault of the perpetuating agents – life goes on.

But we fight back with faith and Facebook. I found this guy, fairly easily, once I had the notion. We got to talking again and my wife is picking him up at the airport today! A first-time visitor to the US, he spent a little time in NYC, saw some other sites of interest to him and we will enjoy a few days together in the Northeast, doing what folks do here.



It has been very interesting, the feelings around doing such a crazy thing. I really enjoy learning new cultures and languages. Anytime I visit another country I've had the best results collaborating with regular folks – if you can just find them. I hope to be just that to this man, a kindred spirit – a local guide to the goings-on and ways of life here.

He shared with me some photos he had taken back in 1985. These pictures are especially poignant to me, in at least a couple of ways – for one thing, I was a "walking around guy!" So check it out.

It is so eerie, unreal and like a dream to me now – seeing myself there among the frozen statues, so tall and balanced. I have had a great run – life is sweet from any perspective.