That line hammered me. It’s from The Return of the King. Samwise, talking to Frodo. Hammered me. Crushed my skull. My eyes got wet every time I saw it. Sam is the best character in the series. He gets all the best lines. “I can’t carry the ring, but I can carry you.” God, how great is that? Good stuff with Sam. Really the only character I liked out of the series.

(There’s Eowyn, but that’s for another day.)

His simple devotion to Frodo, his blind belief that they really could accomplish such an impossible task. It wasn’t that Sam was simple, but his understanding of the world was. I once wrote: “The truth is always simple; it’s liars who want to make things complicated.” Sam can’t see why Frodo can’t bring himself to kill Gollum because Sam isn’t capable of understanding Frodo’s sympathetic link with the creature. All he sees is a manipulative little beast who wants nothing more than to get his hands on the ring. Sam isn’t always right about that, but he isn’t always wrong, either. Sam’s naievete is what keeps Frodo walking. Keeps both of them walking. Right up to Mount Doom. And even at the end, Sam has hope. Sam is hope.

“Don’t you go where I can’t follow.”

I like to believe I live a symbolic life. Seeing things through a metaphorical lens. Everyone in my life means something more than what they are. To me, a car is more than just a means of transportation. It’s a symbol of freedom. Buying your own car. That’s a ritual. A magical ritual of transformation.

The people I know are metaphors. The things I own. They all represent something greater than what they are. There’s a reason I didn’t carry anything but the clothes on my back I got divorced. “These are your things,” she told me. “No,” I told her. “These were our things. They never belonged to me.” Nothing but the clothes on my back.

Because I love symbols, because I love metaphors, because I love magic, I’ve always wanted to be a Freemason. A life of symbolic discovery and research. I walked into the lodge, looked around, and immediately recognized all the symbolism around me. I was in Heaven. I’d have access to the libraries, to the rituals, to a life of symbolic introspection.

I came home from a meeting at the lodge and met a friend of mine. I was so excited. I talked on and on about how the whole experience. When I was done, there was silence. A long silence. And the beginnings of tears.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She said, “Don’t you go where I can’t follow.”

Everything in my life is a symbol. A metaphor. The things I own, the people I know. When you look at life that way, the simple things — the simple things — they aren’t so simple. They’re deep, and powerful, and holy.

Find a friend like Samwise Gamgee.

And hold on for dear life.