Finding Home (part 4)

…part 3…

I find myself in Austin, TX. This trip was a bit spontaneous, I came here to spend some time with Marsha before my upcoming deployment to Antarctica and new adventures. I have been processing a lot of what I have written in this series for quite some time. I still don’t think I have found any answer or resolution and still can’t define, for me, “home”. Though I came to Austin to spend time with Marsha, a bonus of being here is re-connecting with yet another ice friend. My identity is heavily vested in my network of ice friends. I have much in common with these people. Many of us have similar socio-political views, and when they ask “where are you from?” the implication is more along the lines of “where is your stuff stored?”, which is often shortened to “where’s your [storage] locker?”

For me, home is in my backpack. 45 liters of stuff and a plan that may or may not materialize. Home is also where I feel safe; not so much physically safe, but safe in my ideas and sophomoric humor.

Suddenly, as I struggle to wrap up this missive to make a point, I remember that, perhaps what I’m trying to say could all be summarized in a quote. The quote is from a friend of mine who was featured in the Werner Herzog film Encounters at the End of the World. I’m going to have to paraphrase here, which won’t do justice at all to the quote, but it goes something like this: Someone shook the world and all of the people who weren’t attached to some place ended up at the bottom [Antarctica].

For now, home is a state of mind and I have found it.