Your background means nothing. The things you’ve done and made, the places you’ve been and dreamed of. No one knows these things about you; much as you know nothing of them.

But everyone can share in possibility and anticipation. And even as you are a single reality unknown to anyone else, you can participate in excitement.

There’s another version of this photo where the scene through the window is tight and in focus. A server from the restaurant I was at with my family is smoking a cigarette off to the left. On her way out, she asked why I was standing at the window taking photos. I didn’t want to tell her how excited I was about getting onto a ship and floating towards a horizon of chance.