Materially, I am among the most privileged in the world, but by American standards, I live in a shack. Two bedrooms with one bath, our 1,000 square foot home is old and in need of continuous repair, which we are slowly and methodically undertaking, as time and finances allow.

In theory, I like a challenge. In many arenas, the adrenaline from contending with the unknown or untried evokes a sense of being alive that few other experiences parallel. I remember the tickling sensation in my 9-year-old tummy, my eyes following the railroad tracks in Aalborg, Denmark all the way into the horizon.

“Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin

Dance me through the panic ’til I’m gathered safely in

Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove

Dance me to the end of love”

~ Leonard Cohen