“Courage is the ladder
on which all other
virtues mount.”

I started several posts about the rest of my trip, but I could not find the real truth of the story I wanted to tell – only boring details. I think I’ve got it now…

You can take the girl out of Indiana, but you can’t take Indiana out of the girl.

Here is what I learned:

I love calling the evening meal “supper.”

I love letting my Hoosier twang hang out there like an uncontrolled beer gut.

Indiana cornfields are beautiful, especially when you’re riding through them on the back of a Harley at sundown, on a deserted back road in a tiny, forgotten town.

Hoosiers don’t know a stranger.

Not all of my childhood was horrible.

Vulnerability creates opportunity.

There is more to life than shopping at Nordstrom.

The firemen who aided NYC on 9/11 were real people, not story-book heroes.

Lakes can be even more fun than beaches.

I really didn’t miss much when I wasn’t invited to “make-out” in the hidden underground fort in the field.

Even a fucked-up family is still family.

Beauty and organization dwell in simplicity.

Real heroes are humble.

To feel alone is the saddest thing of all.

To forgive is divine, indeed.