i'll use my own title instead of a song lyric, if that's at all enticing

"...2 am and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake..."

I turn on the engine and immediately hear the song. I nearly laugh, turning up the volume. I'm relieved. Coincidence.

We have no answers, but we ask the same questions. The song repeats. The story is reread. They may try to explain, but they cannot answer fully. And it's all right, you see, because one line can be sufficient -- enough to know that someone else has articulated the very same question.

The question will continue to be asked. In chalky gyms, under bright lights, in dark dorms, behind the wheel, next to someone else, in a tired town that should just try again, I wonder who else wonders.

Sometimes I love to be alone and sometimes I can't stand it. I carefully craft my path and beg for someone to direct me. I still wait for those directions, likely the result of a series of appearingly unrelated incidents and words. You don't know either, yet somehow we help each other make sense. Realization; if only for a moment.

I will take a venture here. I say that one should stand by what one loves, because of and regardless of everything.