06-07-2016, 02:57 PM
I like TasmanianRhonda's comment that "maybe this person was destined to be a Jack Kerouac". After reading "On the Road" at age 20 I took off for San Francisco - clueless, barely enough money to share gas & eat PB&Js, and no "plan" beyond getting to City Lights Bookstore. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't held on to that gas money, and it did eventually get me back home to Pittsburgh, with a great adventure of having followed my dream to remember "in tranquility." Fast forward 50+ years and it feels like my Puna adventure is a similar leap of faith... I say to the young man, go for it, but save some "gas money" just in case. Or as the Sufi saying goes, "Trust in God but tie your camel first." I also understand the parents' concern - the wilds of Hawaii can seem pretty far afield for your child's first adventure.