"I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'

Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades

For ever and forever when I move."

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses

This is one of my most favorite lines and one of my most favorite poets in all poetry. It/he has just always really spoken to me. And I felt these word were so fitting to caption this photograph and my life.

One of the things I love about this photo is how it shows the upper windows above the arch reflecting what is behind me as I take the photograph. Where I have been. My past. Blue-yet-cloudy skies resting in an almost safe-yet-ominous sublimity. And then below. The archway. A porthole of sorts to my future. Calling to me from vistas not yet seen and experiences not yet lived. Giving me a peek of the unknown adventure ahead full of discovering and brightness and maybe even hope. Looking through it is almost like looking through Alice's looking glass. You feel yourself getting curiouser and curiouser. You feel yourself taking steps through it, accepting Future's promise and letting go of Past's safety, joy, and pain. You feel yourself taking the hand of Faith's translucent palm, ready to let her be your travel mate.

The other thing I love about this archway is the memories it brings. This archway is part of the most incredible Laguna Beach home Jordan and I were lucky enough to spend a few nights in with Jordan's family a few years ago. It was the home of a renowned architect who designed his own home with 500-year-old Italian doors and other storybook-worthy antiquities. Time sort of stood still that weekend in a way I hope to never forget. All was right with the world. We lived in the present. We lived with each other. We felt the sand on our feet, the ocean on our skin, and the air on our faces. Food was enjoyed in the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Happiness, Contentment, and Peace rested with us in a little Italian villa off the Southern California coast we called home during a few precious years.