For the longest time, I’ve idolized Jules Verne. Not to the point of many literary addict friends you may have but I appreciate his life journey as if it was my own. He was destined to follow in his family path but paved his own way as a writer. He wrote many of the best tales of adventure we love today like the Journey To The Center Of The Earth yet it seemed like he never really went on many of his own. He ventured around Europe but certainly not Around The World In Eighty Days. While spending years at home in my father’s basement, it helped to know that I was not alone in wondering what could be out there for me. Yes, I know he died in 1905 but for some reason I love how stories can be the same and repeat throughout time. It’s special to be a part of that cycle in my own way. Makes life feel purposeful. It was important to try and imagine a brighter world everyday I lived down there.
We live next to a pond in Connecticut and during a magical time of year, you can find little frogs all over the outside of our house. It’s really cute and reminds me of the spirit animals we see in movies that come to protect their friends from demons. It was another way that this little, maybe awkward part, of my journey was special. How extraordinary would it be if they all glowed at night as their croaks sang a beautiful symphony? Maybe that’s what we’re witnessing here.
It made me happy to know, as I was researching for this description, that Jules Verne did in fact go on some pretty cool trips, have some crazy experiences at home, and even bought a boat at one point in his life. Maybe my next adventure is just around the corner. Soon but “not yet… Not yet,” as Djimon Hounsou’s character says in Gladiator.