In my home growing up, my parents had a framed picture of a Will Durant quote. It was at the end of a hall, so I saw it almost every day.

The quote read:

“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record; while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks of the river.”

I hadn’t thought about that quote in years, but lately I have felt so inundated with the stories of people killing, stealing and shouting – I have felt that perhaps my stories were too small, too ordinary, and too insignificant to be worth noting. But to me, the place where the river meets the banks is a valuable one. And so I’ve decided that perhaps I do have some time to share my stories and adventures.