beyond the edge


what will you miss?

Eyes tend to follow the road, mesmerized by the dotted center line and straining to see around the bend. Usually the view to the left or right is just more streets, off-ramps, or buildings. Let's get this over with.

But in Alaska, when I managed to pull my gaze away from the yellow marks I could see miles and miles of a world not made by us. A road became the edge of modern life, and beyond there was a place that lived long before we came, endured our brief presence, then went on without us.

I may miss what I saw back then, the mountains, glacial fields like frozen cream on the horizon, wales, bear, eagles, caribou, the snow in winter, the light in summer, and dancing northern lights blazing in the night. I will never forget what I saw and what it meant to me.

But what I miss the most, what pulls me, what haunts me...is beyond the edge, something so big that I could never contain it. The side of a road where I could almost touch, but never possess the world.

Keep chasing lights.

Chasing Lights is now available in hardback, paperback, and e-book versions from Amazon. An audio book version will be available later this year.

Wednesday evening, June 3rd, I will give a public reading and sign copies of Chasing Lights at NYU Stern in Lower Manhattan. Let me know if you would like to come!

And check out my website: www.gunnarbranson.com - information on upcoming readings, videos, and repostings of these e-mail insights are all available in one place. (It's not really a place, I suppose, unless you believe that an amalgamation of computer racks in data centers is a place...but that's another conversation.)

Gunnar

chasinglights@gunnarbranson.com
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Gunnar Branson

If you are chasing lights in your life and want to see where they lead. If you agree that none of us are important and yet all of us are important. If you care about our environment and our place in it - SUBSCRIBE - Chasing Lights may be a book you will want to read.

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