About Joe

A little bit about me……..

Life Lesson #1: One day you wake up and realize you have far fewer days in front of you than have already passed you by. After you get your bearings some of your own life’s lessons pop out at you. Mine was this: Don’t retire young; work less and travel but keep working until it’s just not fun anymore.

Born December 18, 1956 in Chula Vista, California to middle class parents. College educated and semi-retired at 39.

Travel quickly became more than a passion; it was a lifestyle. First the frenetic “It’s monday so I must be in Paris” trips which evolved into one to six month stays in various Countries and even a 5 month Spanish immersion class taught in the epicenter of the Spanish language, Madrid.

Life Lesson #2: Travel. Learn that the USA is NOT the center of the universe, study and speak other languages, eat foods from other cultures, make friends all over the world. People are inherently friendly.

I have been In and out of relationships until 6 years ago when I finally met my match. Actually I discovered that Love can suck; that’s something they don’t teach you in school.

Life Lesson #3: When you first fall in Love it can actually be painful. You live in constant terror that you will lose this person but don’t let that slow you down. Love is the most amazing discovery that you might ever make.

In my case this fear of loss is exacerbated by a series of very unfortunate deaths starting when I was 15. Close friends & family suddenly, tragically and irrevocably taken from the equation leaving a constant gnawing fear that it will happen again. It took an exceptional person to put up with that insecurity and even now, 6 years in, it can still rear its ugly head.

Life Lesson #4: Live your life like every day might be your last because, dammit, it might be. You know how people joke about getting run over by a bus? I had a friend that stepped out of his office and got run over by a bus.

Earlier this year (2014) my Partner and I traveled around the world with his job. From Vancouver to Seoul to Dubai to Johannesburg to Cape Town and then home. It was the most ambitious trip I had been on since the last bout of disasters including a nasty run-in with chronic pain simultaneous with the slow death of my Mother. But I digress. I had a lot of free time because my Partner was working and I could only volunteer so much so I decided to take pictures and write a Journal of sorts and email it back home. Much to my surprise, several people said they enjoyed reading my stories. Who knew?

In a few weeks I am flying to Barcelona, spending the night, flying to Pamplona, spending the night, then meeting up with 17 complete strangers to walk across Spain. We start a few miles from the French border in Eastern Spain and over the course of 35 days we walk to Santiago de Compestelo; a 700 kilometer trek.

Life Lesson #6: When you find something that scares the crap out of you turn and run face first into it. When you conquer your fears then you live in peace. Seriously, I’m going to walk across a Country? That scares the crap out of me so I have to go.

I find it useful to take off on my own from time to time. It reinforces my belief that no matter what happens I will be able to pick up, dust off and be all right. That’s how I got the courage to come out; I took off to Europe for a month and when I came back I was Out. I was pushing 30 years old. So, once again I’m going to spend an appreciable amount of time alone and, hopefully come home feeling once again that if my world collapses, eventually I will be OK. In the meantime, you really find out who your friends are.

I’m hoping I have enough time to put this experience into pictures and words and send it home via this Blog. Excuse the arrogance of assuming anybody would want to read it but at least in a Blog the victim has to open a web page in lieu of being assaulted by yet another email in their inbox.

Life lesson #7: Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. No matter how big of a jackass you make of yourself, somebody will still love you. I know because somebody still loves me. We take turns giving each other the following message “I love you. I see your goodness every day and I feel blessed to have you in my life”. Try doing that with your partner and see if you don’t start to fall in love again.

This Blog is a work in progress so try to overlook the spelling, grammar, punctuation and content. This is all new to me.

Joe Jeter – September 11, 2014

Update

Still in love, still traveling, and, oh yes, very much still alive.

Joe Jeter – August 22, 2018