Cornfields, freetime, and numb toes
I can’t stand it. Only reporting on adventures around the world and brushes with strangers isn’t fair; my time here and the people in it are worth too much to leave them out of my writing because it seems too “ordinary.”
“We need time to dream, time to remember, and time to reach the infinite. Time to be.” (Gladys Tabor) That quote, written on an ugly painted clock that I made for a friend over 10 years ago should have been dusted off in my head before now. I thought of it yesterday when I was driving from Minneapolis (where I spent the weekend with my brother’s family) back to St. Louis. Since Iowa hosted most of this roadtrip, for many hours I was staring at wide fields with thin vanilla icing, thousands of “candles” poking up, old barns, and truck butts. What it lacks in breath-sucking beauty it makes up for in the space that it allows mind and imagination to inflate into. [No surprise then that I missed one of Mapquest’s merge/fork/exits and ended out on a country road through Where-Am-I-?-Washburn.] A New Year’s resolution really should be to plant cornfields in my life more regularly.
The weekend was a great one—getting physically and mentally outsmarted by my niece and nephew, then consoled through snuggles. We braved the incredibly cold temps (-30 with windchill) and actually played some hockey. And, of course, we watched the Superbowl with all the necessary sign-making and belly-filling. Don’t be surprised! You all KNOW how much I love baseball! [In the middle of all the cheering and groans, my nephew looks back at me and says: “You’re not getting any of this…are you?”] 🙂
So, another emphatic argument for the benefits of quitting your job: roadtrips and family time. Leave in 3 days for another tour—southern Florida to visit a college friend then to Mississippi to see a high school friend and take in a bit of Mardi Gras. “Laissez les bons temps rouler!” (Cajun expression meaning “Let the good times roll!”)
Tags: Transitions
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