head east

A few years back, I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Sincerely, this is one of the best books I have ever experienced. It was given to me as a birthday gift years ago by my brother in law Tom. It's been sitting on my shelf since the last time I read it, and I spotted it last week. I remembered the amazing tale that it was and the journey of taste and smell and the best of humanity's rawness... so I picked it up and started it again.

Steinbeck has a knack for knowing my thoughts and wording them for me. The past month has been very strange for me. I've been developing this URGE to just feel things, to understand things, to come face to face with every emotion and just be in it. I want to be free, and content, and I want to find glory in the smallest sounds, the lightest touch, the faintest scent. I want to breathe air and let it sink into my lungs so deep. I want to dance around and be free forever.

"A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then—the glory—so that a cricket song
sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes.... And I guess a man’s importance in the world can be measured by the quantity and number of his glories." - J. Steinbeck, East of Eden (130)

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