#12 Feb 14, 2026
A Postcard From Timbuktu

A friend of mine has been having a really terrible year so far. To make him feel better I just sent him a postcard from Timbuktu. I’m excited to see it arrive in a few weeks. It’s going to travel over 4,500 miles by foot, plane and motorbike to get to him. I’m having it delivered in secret to our office at work and I really hope it works. Fingers crossed, wish me luck. To send your own you can go to Postcards From Timbuktu.

Salty Salutations,
from Captain Seawater

#11 Jan 28, 2026
The Day We Leave Childhood Behind

Around midnight I heard a low rumbling. I rolled out of bed with my blanket and pillows and my favorite stuffed bunny. Now on the floor I made sure I was under the blanket completely so no air could escape. Cold air began blowing upwards from the heating vent beneath me but it got warmer quickly. My blanket filled up like a hot air balloon, my own private sanctuary. The quiet hum makes me comfortable. The hot air makes me relaxed. The darkness inside makes me forget about the rest of the world and its worries.

“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

I've been doing this since I was five. Not every night, but many of them. On cold winter nights, or even just dark and rainy ones, I will often lay down with my blanket over the vent and relax as the hot air fills the space around me. I've thought about making a painting based on this for years but have never gotten around to it.

Salty Salutations,
from Captain Seawater

#10 Jan 21, 2026
My First Time At Therapy

For the first time in my entire life I went to therapy. Many of my friends have gone for years. It’s one of those things I’ve thought about but never got around to. I had always pictured myself doing psychoanalysis like Freud did. This isn’t what happened.

Having no clue what I was looking for I stumbled upon place that does group therapy. In my mind I pictured the kind of thing Jesse Pinkman goes to in Breaking Bad. I had a call from one of the group leaders last night to confirm my new patient information and she mentioned the group was focused on DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy). Even after the first session I still have no idea what this means.

As always going somewhere new for the first time I almost threw up a in my mouth before getting in my car. After calming down my nerves, I drove over and walked inside. Up a flight of stairs was an unmarked door. With hesitation, I opened the door and found a waiting room. I was sitting next to a flickering lamp in a very quiet space with what I estimated to be 36 ceiling tiles. I recorded this with a pencil on my folded-up piece of paper.

A few minutes later Devan ushered us into the therapy room. Her and Justin are the two therapists; they had everyone go around and introduce themselves. We started with Zoey, a student at the College of DuPage. Then there was Eric, an employe at Argonne National Laboratory. Then we went to Justin and Devan and after that was me. I said I had a good day at work but was struggling a lot still living with my parents. Next was Hannah who recently broke up with her boyfriend. Finally was Luke a juggler and lover of board games. We also went around and said if we could live as any object, what would we be? I said I would be a journal or diary.

The next hour was filled with delightfully pleasant philosophical discussions. Every member of the group was remarkably open and honest, much more so then the people I interact with elsewhere in my daily life; I really appreciated that. During all of this I said nothing but was thoroughly engaged in listening. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had in years and I’m very excited to go back.

Salty Salutations,
from Captain Seawater