The raw data of my life, the places I’ve seen, and the family I love.
We are as unshakeable as the granite and as enduring as the stone. This is the truth, balanced and unchangeable.
Thirteen lives lived, with sights seen that would blow the average mind.
It began in the White Mountains, standing on the very shackles that hold the Old Man of the Mountain to the stone.
By sixteen, life meant being a true lumberjack, driving a team of horses to pull timber from the earth.
The secluded backcountry offered trails for four-wheeling with a father’s guidance, pushing off the Kancamagus Highway to find a hidden swinging bridge clinging to a forgotten mountainside.
There were days spent upside down in a biplane, held in the sky by nothing but a seatbelt and a father’s steady hand.
There was the power of commanding a stallion to rear at a single will.
Years followed hauling jet fuel across Germany, standing in the silent shadows of prison camps that most only know from history books.
By twenty-eight the future arrived: writing the first IBM programs to manage intake for the C.H. Dexter Corporation—then the oldest listed corporation on the New York Stock Exchange.
Later came the grit of recovering wreckage on I-75 for the Florida Highway Patrol and managing the most exclusive dirt in Malibu.
Eleven years were spent mastering those canyons on a GSXR—taking the corners of Mulholland and Malibu Canyon Road at sixty miles an hour, watching every grain of sand and fallen rock with an operator’s precision.
Along the way, eagles were healed and bobcats were raised.
This is the Era of Cartouche.
THE MOUNTAIN IS WHERE WE ARE WHOLE
I’m looking at these photos of the six of you, and I need you to know something that the rest of the world might not understand. I love you more than words can put on a screen.
Every day I spend building this record, every piece of evidence I lay out, and every story I tell is for you. From the ones who have been with me from the start to the newest little one in the pink coat—you are the reason for my journey.
If I could have one wish granted right this second, it wouldn't be for wealth or for an easier path—it would be to be standing on the summit of the mountain with all six of you right now.
Up there, the air is clear, the noise of the world disappears, and we are just us. We are the mountain.
No matter where I am, that is where I am standing with you in my heart. Never forget that you are loved by an original, and you are part of a legacy that is unshakeable.
BREATHE: THE NEXT CHAPTER
Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave, but don't leave me
Look around, choose your own ground
Long you live and high you fly
Smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be
Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun
When, at last, the work is done
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one
