Once There Was A Way....

                                                 To get back home. Lyrics from track 14 on the Beatles Abbey Road album Golden Slumbers made me think about what's on my mind today. This is a conversation I've had more than once as my hunting partner and I crisscrossed the western plains states. Talking hour after hour as we knocked down miles often times late into the night.

If you look at your life it's often obvious how we call on the past as a reference point for our future. We would ponder the difference between living in the past and simply pursuing our passion which may have been born during those innocent days of our childhood. But isn't that just trying to recreate a moment in time we'd ask ourselves.

The answer is that living in the past is when you stop searching for new adventures and your reality becomes only those experiences recalled from memory. Our debate was not whether how you lived was right or wrong but just being conscious of your choice as to how you spend your time and why. Being on the road has a way of causing you to ponder such deep and profound subjects! Sometimes we reached conclusions other times thoughts were left just hanging in the air as questions with no answers. Then there would be miles of silence before our minds refocused.

As we watched our headlights illuminate mile after mile of the road ahead we knew our pursuit did in fact have it's roots in our early years. The things we experienced and where we lived no doubt shaped our lives in much the same ways. I refer to these things as perfect moments. Experiences and feelings permanently embedded in our minds and filed under "all things good". Everyone can recall these things in their lives and how they've played a role in shaping the future.

We agreed on the distinction between trying to relive the past and simply following a path whose rewards are familiar and have a high probability of satisfaction. I likened it to having a great run skiing. Your mind and body remembers the adrenaline rush and alerts your senses to look for it and want it again. So you try and try again sometimes finding it over and over. Other times you can't get it quite right as conditions  change and your chance is lost. But your mind and body still remember and drive you to find it again pushing you and inspiring you to act. To move forward searching.

That's exactly what we were doing as our vehicle filled with favorite guns and gear towing a trailer with 5 bird dog's made it's way through the plains states. Our memories had become a compass in a way telling us in fact this was our way home. A way to search and find those perfect moments over and over again.