Choose-Your-Own Adventure(s)

As One Vacation Ends, I Look Forward To The Next

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash

I’m writing this just a few hours before we arrive back in the Port of Los Angeles, the same place we set sail from on Friday. We have to be off the ship by 8am, so it’s now or never.

Like all good things, this trip must come to an end. Soon we’ll scatter back to our regular lives, routines, and inboxes.

I’m wrapping up this cruise with a full heart and deep gratitude. I’m thankful not only that I was invited to join some of my chosen family, but that I was actually able to enjoy it. For once, my anxiety and mental noise shut the fuck up long enough for me to enjoy some sun, sea, and a few too many cocktails.

If you had told me this time last year that I would be cruising again, I probably would have laughed…or cried. Back then, I was rolling in the deep through some dark mental and emotional storms that made daily living—let alone vacation travel—feel impossible.

But that’s how life works sometimes, right? You never really know what’s waiting just around the corner.

Every milestone feels like a small but meaningful reminder of how far I’ve come, and how much more there still is to see, feel, and experience.

For a long time, I thought “adventure” had to be big and cinematic—something that came with a boarding pass, a breathtaking view, or a perfectly timed photo.

Now I understand it can also be found in smaller moments. The quiet mornings when I actually wake up at peace. The laughter shared over dinner with people I love. The courage it takes to keep showing up for myself, even when no one’s watching.

Adventure doesn’t always mean chasing the horizon. Sometimes it’s simply learning to be present where you are and finding joy in the ordinary.

As we prepare to disembark, I’m already thinking about what comes next. Maybe another cruise. Maybe a road trip. Maybe just a few days of creative wandering in my own backyard.

For me, life is one long choose-your-own adventure. I can’t always control the plot twists, but I can choose to keep turning the page.

Thank you for being a friend!
Clint 🌈✌️

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ON THIS DAY = NOVEMBER 4

BIRTHDAYS

• 1879 = Will Rogers = American actor and screenwriter

• 1896 = J.R. Ackerly = British writer and editor 🌈

• 1908 = Stanley Cortez = American cinematographer and photographer

• 1911 = Dixie Lee = American actor and singer

• 1916 = Walter Cronkite = American journalist, voice actor, and producer

• 1916 = Ruth Handler = American businesswoman and Barbie creator

• 1918 = Art Carney = American actor

• 1925 = Doris Roberts = American actor

• 1929 = Shakuntala Devi = Indian astrologer and writer 🌈

• 1933 = Barbara Grier = American writer and publisher 🌈

• 1937 = Loretta Swit = American actor and singer

• 1946 = Frederick Elmes = American cinematographer

• 1946 = Robert Mapplethorpe = American photographer 🌈

• 1950 = Charles Frazier = American novelist

• 1950 = Markie Post = American actor

• 1960 = Kathy Griffin = American comedian and actor

• 1961 = Jeff Probst = American tv host and producer

• 1961 = Ralph Macchio = American actor

• 1969 = Matthew McConaughey = American actor and producer

• 1981 = Yemi A.D. = Czech creative and entrepreneur 🌈

EVENTS

• 1737 = The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated in Naples, Italy.

• 1783 = Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.

• 1922 = In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Tutankhamun‘s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

• 1972 = Great Performances premieres on PBS.

• 1998 = Gods And Monsters is released in theaters.

• 2008 = Barack Obama becomes the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected as POTUS.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• National Candy Day

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PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Just because I was out at the bars all the time didn’t mean I wasn’t looking for someone to love.”
Robert Mapplethorpe