So here's the thing about Donald Miller's new book. . .

In about three hours, I'll be getting on a plane that will eventually take me to Seattle. I'll be visiting good friends from former school days. I'll see some former students. I'll read a lot. I hope to drive a lot. I hope to see a lot.

I hope to live well, really. I hope to live a good story. I hope to see things and do things that I don't normally get to see and do. Sure, it'll be about sleeping and eating and such, but it will, more than anything, be living. Living amongst giants, for me. The opportunity to see three of my favorite writers is a big deal. The closest I ever got to this was when my Dad and I went to a comic convention over a winter break and I got to meet Mark Waid (he who wrote The Flash better than anyone else). In so many ways, these writers have been as unreal as the stories they have told me through their books. And more a moment or two, they are going to be in-the-flesh real to me.

I want to come back with stories. I want to come back to talk to those around me here about what I have seen and heard and even hope for them. I want to remind my students that there is a broad world out there, and that it is good. And you can engage it and maybe change it, be a part of the conversation instead of always getting in on it when it's too late.

Miller's book reminded me of this. He also reminded me that the defining story of the last six years of my life, the story of the Class of 2009, is over for the most part. And now I need to seek another story, another narrative to live by. One that is grand and still fits into the Greater Story that God is telling. So I'm looking forward to this trip in hopes that I will gain perspective and a new kind of foresight, something that I haven't need much of these last few years.

So here's to living my story as well as I can. Can't wait to tell you more about it. . .