Servant's of The Map

I enjoyed this work a lot more than the other piece about maps because it was an account of a man's life and how his career of being a "servant of the map" changed his life greatly. He was far away from his family, he even missed the birth of his daughter, and they were on their own to take care of themselves. He wrote often and also had letters from his wife which she had written before he left, but even with those he felt so far away and disconnected from her life. Max, the main character's name, began to see a change in himself and even had an affair with a women. It was his dream to become a botanist and now seeing all of these new plants lives in the mountains, a reading a book by a famous botanist, Max wants to stay another year after his work with the surveying is finished. However, I wonder if this is truly his only motivation. I think he may be avoiding going home to his family because he does not want to face cheating on his wife and also because he knows he has changed and is unsure of how he will fit back into his old life. It ends with his letter to Clara saying that he will return one day and that her letter marked To Be Opened If You Know You Will Not Return To Me will not have to be opened. This kept me wondering and hoping that he will in fact return to his wife and that their what seemed to be happy marriage will last.