Nineteen

Another generation had war memories that bound them together. My surrogate "war" was faraway in the vast Pacific Ocean - teaching Polynesian high school kids - on an island that was "discovered" as late as 1796 by Captain Edwards aboard "The Pandora" as he chased down the mutineers from "The Bounty". I just received this picture this evening - kindly posted to me by one of my "war" buddies - Richard from Minneapolis. I wrote about him and our island before - Rotuma. (link)

That's me in the picture - at nineteen. My whole life in front of me. Before university. Before marriage. Before fatherhood. Before my father's death. Before I climbed on the treadmill of work - like a hamster running to keep up with myself. I look happy in that picture on a day I can't even remember. Playing my guitar for some village kids. A coconut leaf hat on my head. Lounging on a white sand beach thirteen thousand miles from home and over thirty years ago.