Off He Goes

My ten year reunion is this year. As it approaches, I have been thinking a lot about my last ten years, especially my last 5 years and all the transitions I have gone through. While sitting in the company car darting around to all my schools, and contemplating my next year that may include training in Humanitarian Aide work, the lyrics of a Pearl Jam song playing set me back a moment. I'd never listened to the lyrics and then thought of how stop and go my life has been.....for a long time. Below are the lyrics.

Off He Goes lyrics

1, 2, 1, 2...
I know a man, his face seems pulled and tense
like he's riding on a motorbike in the strongest winds
so i approach with tact
suggest that he should relax
but he's always moving much too fast
said he'll see me on the flipside
on this trip he's taken for a ride
he's been taking too much on
there he goes with his perfectly unkept clothes
there he goes...
he's yet to come back
but i've seen his picture
it doesn't look the same up on the rack
we go way back
i wonder about his insides
its like his thoughts are too big for his size
he's been taken... where, i don't know?
off he goes with his perfectly unkept hope
and there he goes...
and now i rub my eyes, for he has returned
seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned
for he still smiles...
and he's still strong
nothing's changed, but the surrounding bullshit that has grown
and now he's home
and we're laughing like we always did
my same old, same old friend
until a quarter-to-ten
i saw the strain creep in
he seems distracted and i know just what is gonna happen next
before his first step
he's off again