Free
Maybe the rest of us spend our lives trying to find our way back
Starting again somewhere new is harder than it looks. At first, the shine is there—new adventures, no one critiquing, like TV without the repeats. Then the shine wanes. The community you had, the one that knew you and didn’t need an explanation, takes longer to rebuild than you expect. The same struggles are still there, just in a different setting.
Perseverance, though—perhaps that’s the price of starting over.
Then, slowly, it begins to happen. One person at a time. A conversation. A handshake. A familiar face. Geelong has surprised me that way.
“Just as free, free as we’ll ever be.”
Zac Brown got that right. Twice.
Children remind us what freedom looks like. No filters, no regrets, no self-consciousness. Just curiosity, play, and the certainty that someone will make dinner. They’re as free as they’ll ever be.
Maybe the rest of us spend our lives trying to find our way back.
Tomorrow, a small fix.
Nick
