I sold a piece of my soul today. Bill emailed me a few days ago asking if that part of my soul was still for sale. I indicated to Bill that it was. We negotiated a price and agreed to meet where souls are bought and sold. I thought long and hard all day while I worked, questioned the wisdom of putting a price on my soul. I thought about what I would be giving up by doing so and realized that it was the freedom of my very spirit that was at stake. I considered the pressures that my life has upon it, considered the freedom that I would have to surrender if I carried out this sacrilege against my life force. In the end, I knew that I could buy back my soul, perhaps in another form, but in the end, it could be done. By the end of my work day, I was prepared to do what must be done. I resigned myself to the simple fact that I needed to simplify my life and, of course, I have a five year rule: if I do not work that part of my soul, whatever it is, then it must be sold. I felt this pain when I sold my motorcycle two years ago, and today I felt it even more strongly when I sold my saxophone. Yep, my soul has a price and that price is $3100. While a musical god studied the instrument of my spiritual release, tested its song, I heard those sounds which have always touched my soul to the core. I weakened. Bill and I were talking about wooden boats but I was not really paying attention to our conversation while the sax was made to sing to my soul for one last time. I almost stopped the sale and declined to go ahead with the sale. In the end, I did what I needed to do. The instrument I prized most has gone to a young student who performs in no less that four bands. For my part, I only allowed this beautiful instrument to languish tight inside its case. A young man will free it and it will allow his own soul to fly free, not mere reflections of a blur of nimble moving fingers but of incredible dark musky brass notes, for that is the sound of what my soul used to sound like. Now it is his. Good luck, young man, better luck to you that I ever had with it. Besides, I can always get another one if my soul screams for the kind of release that exceeds the limits of my writing.

To wit, I sold my sax today because I want to focus my attention on my writing and photography habits, which are fueled by my kayaking experiences. Two years ago I sold my motorcycle for the same reason. My writing takes a lot of time to create, the rest of my free time goes to building, paddling and photographing those experiences. I think I made a pretty decent decision here. I was once told that if I ever decided to concentrate on one subject, I would be the best at it. As I slowly remove other distractions from my life, we will see how true that observation was.

Robert N Pruden