Fort Lauderdale, FL

I’m in Fort Lauderdale at the Compound, the place where my friend Mark calls home. The Compound is made up of the landlord who has a place behind Mark, T, Mark’s roommate, and Jay, the neighbor in the duplex. I’m sitting outside on the porch. Marks place is not the hugest and I don’t want to be in the way. He has built up some good friends here. He helps out with Jay’s dog Chase, who is diabetic and going blind. She is sweet and loves to be petted. Like most dogs I guess.

I said farewell to the apartment today and headed down to Lauderdale. I was pumped for the day. I was supposed to be interviewed by a writer for the Miami Herald. How about that?! I was psyched. She emailed a week or two ago. We were to meet in town after lunch. I wasn’t sure why she wanted to interview me and I also wasn’t sure if that was the way I wanted to go with this, but if a writer from a major paper wants to talk, it makes sense to do so. I was afraid of losing the ‘innocence’ that I have. But I thought about it and I hope it doesn’t change things too much. If anything, there will be a Miami contingent following. Anyone checking this out is cool in my book. The more friends the merrier.

I cruised down 95 and headed to Mark’s at about 1:00. I had left a message for the writer during the late morning. I pulled in and he was rustling back to the living. I think he had a late night. He, T, and I shot the breeze and then we were off to the beach. T stayed behind and recharged his batteries. We left for the beach at 2:30.

We drove up A1A and I was surprised to see how crowded and busy this place was. In Palm Beach, at Juno Beach, it was very quiet. Here, it was all out. Bars, restaurants, and a lot of girls in bikinis. We walked around the boardwalk and enjoyed the ambiance. I was starving so we sat down at a place right on Las Olas and A1A. This was a prime spot. We had a corner table outside. Mark new the waitress. We ordered and ate and chilled out for a while. Mark needed to get home for a second, so we said goodbye to the beach.

T was crashed out on the couch. I was chomping to go hit the water taxi, a boat that goes throughout most of Fort Lauderdale. Or at least most of the stuff on the water. After some complaining on my part, we finally hit the road. We got to the taxi and I was amazed at what I saw. The first thing I come across are the hugest yachts I’ve ever seen. Some of these yachts are over 200 feet and mega millions of dollars. We got in the taxi and started out. I felt like I was in Venice (even though I’ve never been).

We hit the Intracoastal Waterway and it was incredible. Right on the water are some of the sweetest houses you could imagine. If these houses were inland, they would be tops shelf. Put them on the edge of the water and you have gazillion dollar places. Mark pointed out a couple of Wayne Hyzinga’s (I have no idea how to spell his name and no desire to look it up) places. I saw the owner of Eckerd’s yacht. The main ‘river’ runs for miles and there are a ton of little ‘streets’ off of the ICW. Along the streets are boats parked in front of their houses. As we went from stop to stop, I thought about how much money there is here. How much money there is in this country. And as I saw the different flags, how much money there is in the world. And then, being the introspective person that I am, wondered what in the heck am I doing quitting my job, taking my life savings to travel the country trying to find my life’s purpose. These ‘things’ I was seeing suck you in. You want them. You need them.

We cruised around to downtown and the river area. We saw more money than I will make in 25 lifetimes. You must be really driven and talented to make all that money and have all of those things. You might have to be lucky too. Do you need to love what you do? I’m not sure about that yet. Or, you need a rich mom and dad.

It must be that these things are not what drive my inner force. I could try and get those things, and I had the chance to do that at my job, but it didn’t seem to do it for me. I also didn’t taste mega rich success (I was on the track). Who knows if that would make my thoughts different. Things can calm that voice that asks is this what I am really supposed to be doing? Eventually, the voice probably comes out, but things are a very good mute button.

Who knows. I quit my job. I see how much money there is out there. I see how many great things there are. But, so far, I’m staying the course. Those things will be there in a few months, if I decide that is what I want.

Tomorrow I’m to interview a security officer from my company in Miami. This is for the contract work I’m doing. I’m curious to see who they’ve picked. Then I’m up to Boynton Beach to see and stay with my Aunt’s father. Oh yeah, before I get in trouble, to all you mother’s out there, Happy Mother’s Day. And to my Mom, happy day. I wish I was there to give you a hug and my card, but I’ll see you in a few weeks. You’re the best and your support means so much!

Man these guys stay up late. It’s 10:30 and we haven’t had dinner yet. When in Rome…