New England Dreaming

    As our friendship deepened, Steph would share with me her love of God and His Word. I was all but completely ignorant of the Bible; I had glanced at it from time to time - I even had one, somewhere - but about its healing message and its awesome Author I knew very little. Initially, I was standoffish, but further down the road Steph's influence bore much fruit.

    On one occasion she challenged my position on pornography, which had a firm foothold in my life. To this day I don't know exactly what happened inside of me, but I burned every scrap of it that I had, and I haven't sought it since. This was years before the Internet was popular, and incredibly God has kept me from the snare of online sex as well.

    One windy and overcast afternoon, Steph and I had a "pivotal talk" atop a lifeguard stand on a deserted beach. She confessed that she had developed romantic feelings, but that she had recently decided to abstain from physical relations prior to marriage. She had always been a believer, and thought herself a Christian, but had not kept herself pure in past relationships. As she was aware of my increasing interest, and had begun to reciprocate, she was concerned that her convictions would repel me.

    The truth was quite the opposite! I had until then never been so impressed with a woman, and this development suggested that she was the "girl I always wanted." I had lost hope that such a one existed.

    The days flew by, and our affection waxed as Summer waned. I helped Steph move her life back to Boston, where I spent a week or so. I was received enthusiastically by her friends, became deeply infatuated with Massachusetts, and in the wee hours of my trip back to Brooklyn I knew in my heart what needed to happen: It was time to leave New York and move on to the next adventure that beckoned so forcefully!

    In retrospect it's astounding what I left behind professionally: I was Mike Quon's chief Illustrator, and my responsibilities included directing other talented artists. God knows what might have been if I'd stayed. My family, friends and coworkers were dismayed - yet in a sense inspired - by the news that I was going, and that I was going for love.

    Financed by a large sum of found money (see tangent on previous page), I spent just a couple of weeks tying up all the visible loose ends. After a late-night omelet uptown with cousin John, I hit the road with all my worldly possessions in a rented U-Haul bound, quite literally, for eternity...